Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They did not actually sleep through it. That is being unjust to them. The alternate government over there, when the challenge of the global financial crisis hit, voted no to investing in our schools, they voted no to investing in social housing, and they voted no to investment in regional and local infrastructure. All those conservative councils that they represent got money from us, yet they voted no to it. This is the same mob that went to the last election with an $11-billion black hole.

We get lectured by the member for Dawson about transparency. They made an effort on transparency. Firstly, they refused to use the Parliamentary Budget Office—an independent body—to scrutinise their costings. They appointed their own auditor. I guess at a stretch you could understand it. They gave the auditor such instructions that the auditor was found to be in gross breach of professional accounting standards. This is the mob that wants to lecture us on fiscal discipline. The people they get to oversee their costings could not come out and verify their costings without breaching professional accounting standards.

The mob opposite also get on aeroplanes occasionally, fly around the world and give a few speeches. One time, not all that long back, the Leader of the Opposition was over in London. He was asked about the Australian economy. What did the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, say? He said:

On the face of this comparative performance, Australia has serious bragging rights … Compared to most developed countries, our economic circumstances are enviable.

He said that this year. These people want to jump up and down—fire and brimstone—and find holes in everything yet go overseas and speak the truth.

Another person who has some economic credibility is the member for Wentworth. He has been around for some time and had a pretty senior role in some accounting firm, they tell me. What did the member for Wentworth say? He compared 'the current success and strength of our economy against the troubles of so many others'. I think he is pretty accurate. We should give credit where credit is due. He got that call right.

When it comes to an economic debate, this mob are not in the game. They are the people who for over a decade presided over the failure to invest in Australian infrastructure. They might want to talk about the $20 billion surplus they had—and it is on the record, it is true—but they failed to invest in the economic infrastructure so necessary for this country.

See this speech in context