Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

So sloppy is our Joe that he had not even read that message. But, of course, it gets worse today, because he goes out and continues to misrepresent what the Reserve Bank governor said. Today it is plain that the Reserve Bank governor was not saying what the shadow Treasurer said he was saying. The shadow Treasurer has continued to insist that he was saying that. This is what the Governor of the Reserve Bank had to say about fiscal policy and about the state of our national books on 28 September 2009:

There is not much argument that the state of the government accounts in this country is just so superior to virtually anybody with whom we would want to compare.

That was in the Senate committee inquiring into the stimulus. If those opposite had their way, this country would be in recession right now. The shadow Treasurer is an embarrassment to all of those who sit opposite. He is a bit like parachute pants—popular for a while but nobody would be seen in them!

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