George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

You call in the coalition at that point. I wonder if this same matter was ever a matter of public importance for the Greek parliament. Clearly a pattern of borrowing more and more money did not work over there. We could ask: are we on the same path? We will not be far behind if we keep posting the biggest budget deficits that this country has ever seen. But turning things around will not be as easy as it sounds, because Labor is spending money in two ways. They are recklessly splashing the cash around in sugar hits that they hope will lift their numbers in the polls and mask the impact of the carbon tax. Speaking about the carbon tax, it is very interesting. It is one of those taxes that is actually costing more than it is collecting, so we are told. I had a look on the Clean Energy Future website and I found an interesting article titled, 'Living green, drinking tea and weaving.' I was looking to see what some of the carbon tax dollars will go to. It said, 'This Saturday, 12 May, Auburn Community Development Network will host another "enviro tea salon"'. That is actually thanks to support from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. They are giving them $72,000 to do this. What do they do at these enviro tea salons? This Saturday, participants can take part in a basketweaving workshop. What is the Gillard Labor government doing funding basketweaving to the tune of $72,000? How is basketweaving going to mitigate so-called 'dangerous climate change'? Maybe this is an adaptation thing. They are adapting us to life under the carbon tax.

What is perhaps more reckless than this is the fact that they have locked in billions of dollars in spending that will remain even if things in the world go ever so badly. When this government look for the bigger drunk in the room and they compare our economy to other countries, one thing they do not mention is structural deficit. But the economist Henry Ergas did. In an article in the Australian on 7 May this year, he made this comparison:

The International Monetary Fund's fiscal update last week highlights how lacklustre the government's efforts have been. Importantly, the IMF concentrates on the structural budget balance, which nets out upswings and downswings and so captures the burden being placed on future taxpayers.

This is a good indication of how an economy is really travelling, particularly in uncertain times. Ergas continued:

Seventeen advanced economies have materially improved their structural budget balance since the global financial crisis. But not Australia. And six advanced economies will have a structural budget surplus by 2013. But not Australia.

If this government wants to talk about the economy and compare us to the rest of the world, then let us do that. But let us compare apples with apples. We are indeed the Lucky Country. We are ideally placed to take advantage of the global resources boom. Australia went into the GFC with an economy that was the envy of the world, with money in the bank. And here we are, after four years of 'hard Labor', posting record deficits. We have extended the credit card in the middle of a boom. If this government is posting record deficits now, what will we see if the economy actually goes into complete meltdown? If this smoke and mirrors budget surplus is so thin it is actually transparent—like the one we have been dished up—despite it being based on a forecast of a bumper 11 per cent increase in tax revenue, it will actually be a real bumper deficit when it sets in.

If the thought of what might happen when things go pear-shaped globally is not enough to warrant reining in spending then consider this: even if, by some miracle, the forecast $1.5 billion surplus is actually delivered, what will it do to debt? It is hardly going to touch the sides. If Labor managed, by that unlikely miracle, to deliver this long, long series of surpluses, it would actually take Labor 96 years to pay off the debts that accrued in just four years. If the government does not rein in spending and start paying down debt, Australia will continue to spend an extraordinary amount on interest. Interest payments on Labor's debt alone will reach an alarming $8 billion a year.

What Labor's recklessness has cost this country is what could have been bought with that money. For example, the National Disability Insurance Scheme could have been brought in. We could have been spending that $8 billion on infrastructure to ensure a stronger economy into the future. We could have been spending that $8 billion on fixing the Bruce Highway right up and down the coast of Queensland, making it safer for motorists and flood-proofing sections of it. Instead, it has been frittered away on pink batts, on overpriced school tuck shops—

An opposition member: On sleeping snails!

on sleeping snails and on 'enviro tea workshops' where they are going to be doing basket weaving. What a basket case of a government this is! It cannot manage its debt.

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