Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Since this government has come to office, there have been 800,000 new jobs. I know you do not want to talk about jobs. I can understand that those on the back bench may be embarrassed about Campbell Newman and about Barry O'Farrell. I can tell you: those on the front bench are cheerleading and saying, 'Bring on those job losses!' But this side of the House does care.

Let's go through some of the other important economic figures. Inflation is at 13-year lows. Interest rates are now at record lows of 3.5 per cent—compared to 6.75 per cent when the Liberal Party left office. There is a huge investment pipeline and very low debt. Those on the other side failed to compare debt around the developed world. As a percentage of GDP, Australia has a very low debt. We are bringing the budget back to surplus and we are making responsible cuts.

We heard those opposite talk about how great it was, how responsible they were, in the Howard years. A lot of people would remember the $121 million they spent on their Work Choices advertising campaign, and I do not think a lot of people would think that was very responsible spending. Do not forget the $10 million spent on the cloud-seeding rainmaker by the then Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, the member for Wentworth. There was also the cheese factory that never made cheese. And the list goes on. This was at a time when it was raining gold—and what did they do? They squandered it. We were given a difficult task when we came into office: to deal with the GFC and ensure that people were still employed. We are managing that in the economically responsible way.

At the end of the day I think the Australian people will see through those opposite. They will not be able to forget. There is also the Woolies and Coles tax that they are going to impose on the Australian people. I think the Australian people will see through the irresponsible economic ideas of those opposite. (Time expired)

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