Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We can only wish, Mr Deputy Speaker. When we look at this matter of public importance, I would have thought the shadow Treasurer, in order to have a debate about the merits of the government, would realise this is not a one-horse race. We have a beast called the opposition. I am using a horse analogy as opposed to any other point about that.

Mr Tony Smith interjecting—

It is a saying, Member for Casey—you need to get out and about. I am going to use several criteria to establish why I think our Treasurer is better than their shadow Treasurer. They are fair criteria; I will submit them for the House's consideration. The first will be spending, the second will be savings, the third will be inflation, the fourth will be the tax-to-GDP ratio—

Opposition members interjecting—

GDP, for the opposition backbenchers, is the gross domestic product. I will cover our handling of the global financial crisis—we would like to conveniently forget the war, would we not? We will look at our handling of the natural disasters and we will look at our fiscal position. In fact, why do we not put in a plan for Australia as a criterion and why do we not talk about jobs? The jobs number is the one that dares not speak its name among the opposition. These are the criteria on which, I think, you can judge our Treasurer versus their imposter.

Let us start with spending. We kept real spending growth, and we are keeping real spending growth, at one per cent. That is the lowest growth rate of any five-year period since the 1980s.

Mr Hawke interjecting—

Mr Ewen Jones interjecting—

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