Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For the entire time we have been in government, the opposition, aided and abetted by the right-wing media and commentariat, have pursued an agenda of maliciously discrediting Labor's economic management. At times the nature and scale of the misinformation coming from the other side has been such as to make any independent observer wonder if they are actually talking about the same economy as the rest of us. Today, as we debate the current Treasurer's fifth budget, I want to take some time to set the record straight about the federal Labor Party's economic record.

First let's look at some longer term trends. Since 1984 Australians have benefited from economic performance that has been better than that of most other major countries in the world. Using one very basic measure, according to the OECD, our gross domestic product increased 133 per cent between 1984 and 2011, compared to an average increase for the seven largest OECD economies of just 78 per cent. In 1983-84, again according to the OECD figures, our unemployment rate was 9.6 per cent, compared to an average for the seven major OECD countries of 7.3 per cent. By 2010-11, our rate had dropped substantially to 5.1 per cent, below the seven-country OECD average of 7.9 per cent.

These are just a couple of indicators of an impressive economic performance over the past 28 years. Of course, for 17 of those 28 years Labor treasurers were custodians of our economy. During that time, two of those treasurers were independently recognised as the world's best, winning Euromoney magazine's prestigious Treasurer of the Year Award—Paul Keating in 1984 and the current Treasurer, the member for Lilley, in 2011. Those opposite like to designate the former member for Higgins as the greatest Treasurer this country has ever had. The trouble is that is only their opinion. It is clearly not one shared by Euromoney, which never saw fit to bestow its Treasurer of the Year Award on Mr Costello. As I have said, two Labor treasurers have been the recipients of this highly respected award, but no Liberal or coalition Treasurer has ever warranted this recognition by one of the world's leading financial journals. Those opposite also like to anoint Mr Costello as the longest-serving Treasurer in Australian history, but we all know longevity of service is not necessarily a measure of competence or ability. After all, Colonel Gaddafi was the longest serving Libyan head of state, Hosni Mubarak was the longest serving Egyptian head of state in 150 years and Robert Mugabe is the longest serving president of Zimbabwe and still in office.

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