Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite constantly interject. I would ask them to reflect simply on what the growth numbers for the last 12 months have been for the major advanced economies. The Japanese economy contracted 6.4 per cent, the UK economy contracted 5.5 per cent, the US economy contracted 3.9 per cent, the Canadian economy contracted 3.2 per cent, France was down 2.6 per cent, Germany was down 5.9 per cent, Italy was down six per cent, the G7 average contracted 4.6 per cent, the OECD average across 33 economies contracted by 4.6 per cent and the Australian economy grew by 0.6 per cent.

Why is it so hard for those opposite to say anything positive about the performance of the Australian economy? The government’s economic strategy has been supported by the Treasury; it is supported by the Reserve Bank of Australia; it is supported by national peak industry bodies—for example, ACCI was referred to yesterday by the finance minister; it is supported by public economists across the country, it is supported by each of the G20 economies; it is supported by the IMF; and it is supported by the World Bank.

There was a further contribution to debate today, a further development, which was the appearance at the doors of the member for Fadden, otherwise known as the ‘brains trust’ of the Liberal Party. The brains trust of the Liberal Party was out there at the direction of the Leader of the Opposition to reveal new truths about Liberal Party policy on the economy. What did the brains trust of the Liberal Party have to say on the doors today? Here is what he had to say:

… every other government in the world except for Mr Rudd and Labor, is actually winding back stimulus.

I presume that was the instruction from the dispatch box, from the advisers and from the Leader of the Opposition—to say:

… every other government in the world except Mr Rudd and Labor, is actually winding back stimulus.

It is a pity that those opposite occasionally do not read the odd report which comes from offshore because there was a communique out a couple of days ago at the G20 finance ministers meeting in London, which had this to say on behalf of the 20 largest economies in the world:

We will continue to implement decisively our necessary financial support measures and expansionary monetary and fiscal policies, consistent with price stability and long-term fiscal sustainability, until recovery is secured.

We have got the member for Fadden out there, representing the new orthodoxy on the part of those opposite, saying that, mysteriously, all these other governments around the world are reining their stimulus strategies in—except that the central bank governors and the finance ministers of the 20 largest economies of the world have said, in fact, ‘We have got to keep going because the recovery is not secure.’

I say this to the Leader of the Opposition before he dispatches the brains trust to the doors again, because we know how strongly he articulates the Liberal Party line handed to him on a sheet every morning. He will walk out there—a bit like walking up there to face the shrapnel each day—and deliver the line faithfully, except that he did not bother to actually read what was on it before he read it out. Here are a few basic things for those opposite to understand. Fact No. 1: the world is currently facing its most difficult recession in 75 years. Fact No. 2: the global economies, the G20, do not regard us collectively as being out of the woods yet, and the full consequences of this recession have not yet been reflected in the unemployment numbers. Fact No. 3: major economies around the world are not pulling the rug from under economic recovery by prematurely stopping their stimulus; they are in fact implementing their stimulus strategies. Fact No. 4, for the benefit of the member for Fadden, is that Elvis is not alive and well flipping burgers in Mississippi in a roadside diner run by the member for Fadden. The Leader of the Opposition lacks judgment; we all know that. The Leader of the Opposition now demonstrates himself to have lacked judgment on the economy. It is time they got with the national program.

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