David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her questions. I think the second one was on behalf of the member for Mackellar. I thank her as well for her contribution.

I welcome the opportunity to talk about debt, not because I think that it is in any way a problem that we face but, if you look right across the advanced economies, our net debt levels are amongst the lowest. It is a point of comparison that is very rarely made by those opposite. Indeed, it is a worthy point of comparison because it makes the point that there is always context. The context here is that we have been through a Global Financial Crisis, a global recession and we are very proud of the fact that here in Australia we avoided sinking into the depths of recession that so many countries ended up encountering.

I know that people often look at what we as participants in the political debate have to say. They will sometimes be cynical—as the member for Higgins is so cynical with so many of her statements. We are combatants in the political debate. Have a look at what some outsiders have had to say about questions of debt. I always think the best place to start is with what the ratings agencies happen to say. The rating agencies have given this government a very big tick, a very big stamp of approval. We have a AAA credit rating with all three major credit ratings agencies across the globe. That is a point that is of some significance. The member for Higgins, I acknowledge, was a contributor on the staff of the former Treasurer and I know he would like to assert he was the world's greatest Treasurer ever—even though he never received that award. One reason why he did not receive the award notwithstanding the valiant efforts of his staff to make him a better contributor was because he never ever achieved the AAA credit rating with all three global ratings agencies.

Ms O'Dwyer interjecting—

He failed to do it.

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