Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think I am offended on behalf of wombats. The tragedy of it all! No longer in government and no longer in their comfort zone of spin, focus groups and fantasy, the opposition have the hide to lecture the government on debt and the problems with the Australian economy. Why do they do it? Because the opposition will do anything and say anything to avoid one stark fact. That is the fact that they are no longer in government. Back in their days of government there was rarely any connection between fact and the Labor-Greens coalition public utterances. They saw themselves as the ringmasters of the 24-hour news cycle. They saw themselves as masters of spin manipulating the sad reality of their ongoing incompetence into a Pollyanna's confection of wishful thinking.

They are the party that promised there would be no carbon tax under a government that they led. They are the party that gave us the pink batts fiasco, GroceryWatch, cash for clunkers—and the list goes on. They are the party that on over 500 occasions promised the Australian people they would deliver a surplus and even printed brochures to say they had done it. They are a party that has thrived on political fantasy for so long that they would not know the truth if they ran into it. They are an opposition playing to their only strength—spin, not facts. They are an opposition that made being loose with the truth an art form. They are an opposition who forget that this is a deficit that they built.

Today's government has work to do, an economy to fix and a nation to build. This is a government with policies to implement. Why? Because that is what the people of Australia decided. Perhaps if the opposition were more interested in our nation's future and less interested in spin, and perhaps if they had been more interested in good government and less interested in media manipulation, they might have read the advice provided to them by their own Treasury. There you can find the facts—the facts of the damage of the runaway train that they called economic management.

This is a serious matter. The coalition inherited the results of Labor's frolic, and this government intends to deal with it in a careful, methodical and responsible way. We simply must have certainty about financing the budget. Good government is not determined by your mastery of the 24-hour news cycle; good government is all about prudent and proper decision making and economic management. This government has a responsibility to the Australian people to get our economy back on track.

The increase of the Commonwealth government debt limit from $300 billion to $500 billion is a critical step in this process. The opposition knew the debt limit would need to be increased again, but they did not have the courage to do it. Instead, the member for Lilley—the world's greatest Treasurer!—shirked his responsibilities and said it would be a matter for them after the 2013 election. They ignored Treasury advice, leaving it for others to clean up. It is not rocket science, just prudent economic management.

The coalition is committed to providing stability and certainty to the markets. Unlike Labor, on this side of the chamber we understand that the debt limit is not a target. In 2008, the Labor-Greens government set the debt ceiling at $75 billion. A few months later, in February 2009, the government increased the debt ceiling to $200 billion. The 2011-12 budget saw an increase to $250 billion. But that was not enough for Labor; they raised it again in 2012-13 to $300 billion. Between 2009 and 2013, in just four years, Labor increased the debt ceiling to 400 per cent of its original value. Labor owns this debt. This government has a responsibility to the Australian people to get our economy back on track.

I make one simple plea to the opposition: as much as you love the 24-hour news cycle, the people are sick of it. The Australian people want governments to get things done, not read about every confected conspiracy that conveniently lodges in the opposition's corporate brain. The people of Australian want the government to govern and that is what we are doing. It is as simple as that.

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