Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Indi for her question. I thought at the end of yesterday maybe the opposition had moved on from carbon pricing, but clearly not. And there is the member for Indi, back, right on cue—despite knowing that the Leader of the Opposition is someone who has been in favour of carbon pricing, every living Liberal leader is in favour of carbon pricing; and, should the Leader of the Opposition ever be elected as Prime Minister, he will keep carbon pricing. But I am not surprised that the member for Indy is in this parliament, once again, misrepresenting what is happening with carbon pricing, because the Leader of the Opposition, though he is a supporter of it, is addicted to the fear campaign. But the fear campaign is always punctured by the facts. And the fact is this: we are seeing business investment, as a percentage of GDP, at its highest point in 40 years—17.1 per cent. That is the fact.

The member for Indy might look like she is not interested in that but you cannot wish those kinds of statistics away. We are seeing business investment at record levels. And that is after we have announced carbon pricing and legislated for it, after we agreed the minerals resource rent tax and legislated for it. That is the performance of the Australian economy. Yes, of course, there are things in the Australian economy that are bringing pressures. Chief amongst them is the high Australian dollar, which is putting pressure on a range of businesses, but it is not true, as the opposition is trying to assert today, that we are seeing business investment at anything other than very strong levels in our economy.

If the member for Indy is truly interested in risks to this kind of business investment then she may want to inquire of the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer why they want to do things like put company tax up and why they have $70 billion that they need to slash out of services to families, with all of the implications that that would have for jobs and support in the Australian economy. Why is it that they are on such a reckless and destructive path when it comes to Australian businesses? Why is it that they spend all of their time scrapping about investments, with Senator Joyce allowed to say whatever he likes whenever he likes, jeopardising foreign investment and the future of the Australian economy? Why is it that they are bereft of any strategy other than aggressive and reckless negativity?

If the member for Indy has the slightest interest in the jobs and prospects of working Australians she should be seeking to get those questions answered, not to misrepresent the facts.

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