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

Yes, in surplus in five, six or seven years easily if we taxed at the rate that John Howard did, which has a record in history as the highest taxing government ever at 24.2 per cent of GDP. Instead, we have made the decision to be a much lower taxing government at 22 per cent of GDP. Sadly, obviously the reality is that no government in more than 30 years has run a surplus with a tax to GDP ratio below 22 per cent. That does bring some strains and stresses to the government, but obviously we are not hearing those opposite say that we should be taxing at the same rate as John Howard.

I do know what we should do. The member for Dawson said that we would have nothing to show at the end of the process and compared acquiring a house to what the government does. I can tell you what we do: we invest in education, we invest in the NBN and we invest in infrastructure. I want to return to those three points, because the member for Dawson—so typical of people down here in Canberra—mocked our investment in education and insulation. Of course, he goes to the school facilities that have had their curriculum improved and that have had their quality of educational delivery improved, and he mocks the NBN.

In fact, we have the Leader of the Opposition make that incredible statement during his contribution that he would nationalise the NBN if he was in power. He did not say that term, but he forgot that the government does not actually own the NBN. He said that he would effectively nationalise the NBN and then sell it for $1. That was his offer; it is on Hansard today. He did not realise that that is the major contribution that this government is making to improving productivity. It was ironic to have someone from the region—the Mackay area—not mention the NBN and the contributions that it makes to the local economy.

In terms of productivity, I well remember that when we took office in 2007—the member for Petrie and I were elected on 24 November 2007—productivity for that December quarter was at zero. That is not all the fault of the Howard government, admittedly. I know it does fluctuate a little bit. But the reality is that now we are starting to improve productivity, because—as everyone knows—productivity drives growth in living standards. We have got a bit of a pick-up in labour productivity. In fact, the labour productivity in the market sector grew by 3.3 per cent over the year to December, which is well above the 1.5 per cent average annual growth rate over the last 10 years.

Productivity is a sure indicator as to whether the economic engine is tuned correctly. Anyone that understands economics understands that you just cannot cut wages, which is the Work Choices way—the lazy way—of bringing improvements to the economy. You cannot make people work harder by cutting their wages—that just does not work. You have got to be smart about it. What do you do? You invest in infrastructure. It is a disgrace to have one of the economic brains of those opposite come in and say, 'I guarantee that I will nationalise the NBN and then sell it for $1.' I would like him to go to the Islamic college in the minister's electorate and tell them that the NBN is not worth anything. I say that because I received over 1,000 letters from the students in that school saying that they want the NBN rolled out faster to them, because they understand the jobs of the future will not necessarily be in their neighbourhood but will be throughout the Asian region. How do we engage with the Asian region? We invest in the NBN.

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