Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance, discussing in particular Australia's fiscal position. In doing so I follow on from Dr Emerson, my next-door neighbour, who is the minister at the table. I would like to contrast his contribution with those of the member for Dawson and the member for North Sydney.

I do not know the member for North Sydney's electorate that well, though I think I have been in his electorate. I know that if I stand in the southern part of his electorate I am in Kirribilli. So I have been there once, for a function—I think with the minister, in fact—with the Chinese community. If you stand in the southern bit of my electorate you are in Acacia Ridge, which is quite a different part of the world. But I know that when I am in Acacia Ridge talking to the people about debt and what sort of debt is manageable—and I refer to the member for Dawson talking about the seven million households in Australia and how we should approach debt—most people understand that debt is not a bad thing. Debt, in fact, can change your circumstances.

I have here a newspaper story from Simon Benson from June 2010 talking about the Leader of the Opposition taking out a mortgage for $710,000 for his house. Even for someone in their 40s or 50s, as the Leader of the Opposition would have been when he took out this loan, debt is not necessarily a bad thing. It is good if you can keep interest rates under control. So I am sure the opposition leader would be thankful that, under this government, the interest that he is paying on that mortgage has probably halved in the time that we have been here. I think we even gave him a pay rise as well. So I am sure he is very thankful for that to this side of the House.

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