Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

They took out $5 billion. The Reserve Bank Reserve Fund dropped to 2.1 per cent from 9.6 per cent, and when we came into office it was 3.8 per cent. I spoke to the Governor of the Reserve Bank and I said: 'Are you properly prepared for the challenges that may lie ahead?' His answer, which he gave publicly the other day—and I am sure he will appear before the House Standing Committee on Economics—caused us to put $8.8 billion into the Reserve Bank to make sure that the Reserve Bank was at its strongest to deal with any challenges that come before the Australian economy. Labor does not get that.

I call on the member for Lilley to write to the government to ask that all correspondence between him and the Reserve Bank is released to the Australian people, and in return I will release the letter from the Governor of the Reserve Bank about the $8.8 billion. He is pretty quiet up there. You are on your L-plates and he knows what he is doing.

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