Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Certainly, Mr Deputy Speaker. Those opposite are a bunch of nay-sayers and it is becoming increasingly evident that the only preselection process for a Liberal Party candidate is to say no. Then you are guaranteed preselection, because that is all you need to do. You do not need to think of a policy, you do not need to think of a plan and you do not need to have an idea. You just say no and then hit your reaction plans.

If we had listened to that lot over there during the global financial crisis, over 200,000 Australians would now be out of work. But we did not. Instead, because we have policies, because we have plans and because we have ideas, we have created 700,000 jobs right across the country. If we had listened to the nay-sayers over there when it comes to job creation, we would have a massively high unemployment rate—double digits. But we did not. Because we have plans, because we have ideas and because we have that P word that they are so afraid of—policies—we have a steady 4.9 per cent unemployment rate. It is the lowest amongst developed nations in the world. That is something we should be very proud of. This government delivered jobs, which delivers incomes to families and allows the economy to keep going. Australia was saved from the GFC.

If we had listened to you when it came to stimulus funding in schools, 210 schools in McEwen would not have received new buildings or upgrades. They would not have received one cent. But we did not listen to you. We put the plans in place which kept jobs going, kept local economies stimulated and kept people in work. Now we have principals and teachers right across the electorate of McEwen saying that this program, Building the Education Revolution, has brought forward education and their school facilities by 20 to 30 years. That was done after 11 long, dark years of neglect in education by the former Howard govern­ment.

If we listen to the nay-sayers when it comes to putting a price on carbon, our economy, as the Productivity Commission has revealed, would drastically suffer. We quite often hear those opposite saying, 'But the Prime Minister said there would be no carbon tax before the election.' They should come in with the Australian dated 20 August. There was a great article written by Paul Kelly and Dennis Shanahan titled 'Julia Gillard's carbon price promise'. I read this and I thought, 'What's going on here?' There is the Prime Minister saying before the election that she is 'prepared to legislate a carbon price in the new term'. In the new term—that is this term. She said:

I don't rule out the possibility of legislating a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a market-based mechanism …

There you go. That is exactly what we are doing, and that was before the election. It was 20 August—before the election—in the Australian, the great newspaper that you all read and dream of. There it is in black and white. We are delivering exactly what we said before the election. But, of course, when you are sitting there saying, 'No, no, no,' you have no idea. You just cannot hear what goes on around this place.

The Liberal Party's message during the GFC was: 'If you are out of work, tough. Bad luck. You lost your job? Tough luck. You've had your hours at work cut? Tough luck. We will sit here and do nothing.' But they would have been happy, had they still been in government, to cut your working conditions, cut your wages and bring everyone down. That was the only policy they had during their last term in government. It is outrageous that those opposite did not take the struggles of working families seriously. We on this side of the House have a plan. We have a strong Treasurer with a plan to get the budget back into surplus, to create more jobs and a clean energy economy. Those opposite think that their little childlike three-word slogans will get us back into surplus.

But what is the member for North Sydney's excuse for his incompetence? Maybe it has to do with the fact that he cannot concentrate because someone used a blower vac or a lawnmower outside his window and it put him off. It left him in a space where he could not work. That is how frail and brittle he is. It shows that he is just not up to the job. But of course the member for Goldstein knows that. He is circling like a little shark. He is circling there, waiting to take the shadow Treasurer's job, and we know how confident he is. This is the man who went to the 2007 election saying, 'All these Labor Party candidates still work for the government, in breach of section 44 of the Constitution.' That lasted about 10 minutes, because once the press looked at it they found that his detailed research, his hours of energy and effort, were put into looking at websites that were out of date. He googled once and that was it. That is the extent of the ability of the financial mess that those members over there call their financial portfolio spokesman.

This motion is an absolute joke. Someone who has failed every single step of the way when it comes to doing numbers, doing the budget and doing finance policies and who has delivered absolutely nothing comes in and has a crack at our guys. Our Treasurer, as I said, has delivered a strong budget. We are delivering on all our election promises. It is all there in black and white.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

Once again, that is evidence you do not listen. I think I just went through that and I know the tuckshop raiders up the back have no idea. (Time expired)

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