Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I think it is his first question, so I congratulate him on that. Unfortunately, what I am going to have to say to the member is that I am not in a position to endorse the shadow Treasurer’s four-point plan. I know the shadow Treasurer has made a series of statements since, but the original statements of the shadow Treasurer which defined this debate were in four points. Point 1 was that he was going to reregulate interest rates. I am not able to agree with that. In point 2 he somewhat bizarrely suggested we should remove our $16 billion investment in AAA rated residential mortgage backed securities. We were not in a position to agree with that. Thirdly, he somewhat oddly suggested we remove the deposit guarantee. No, we were not in a position to deal with that. And, finally, he said we should effectively go to the G20 and get a worse deal for Australia through global reform.

I know since the original four-point plan the shadow Treasurer has been in full backflip, retreat, backdown mode and he keeps snatching other people’s ideas, like those of Graeme Samuel from the ACCC, to try to cover his embarrassment—

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