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

This is the same member for McMahon who does not know the difference between net debt and gross debt. Come on! He was actually Treasurer just for a few days, but he does not know the difference between net debt and gross debt. I thought it was a bit of a slip of the tongue; like the time he came into this place and described the Chinese currency as the yen.

Honourable members interjecting—

Yes, he did. I know it is hard to believe, but he did. I thought it was just a bit of a slip of the tongue and I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and he did come into this place and talk about the debt limit applying to net debt, but I still gave him the benefit of the doubt. I tried with this man; I really tried. Then, when he wrote to me and said that he was going to distribute it to the whole world and talked about net debt being subject to the debt limit, he did not know the difference between net debt and gross debt. I thought, hang on, this guy is not fit to run a tuckshop let alone to run an economy. And, as we know, the member for Watson is over there preying on him.

What we do know is that when it comes to credibility the Labor Party has none. Do you know why they have no credibility? Because they have no principles. Not only do they vote against our savings, they vote against their own savings. Not only do they not know the difference between net debt and gross debt, they created the problem and they are trying to stop us from fixing it. That is the Labor Party way. Here is a tip for a new opposition: you actually have to be a little bit consistent. You actually have to believe in something. I know you believe in debt. I know the Labor Party believes in debt; I know the Labor Party believes in racking up the credit card.

You save him, Tony—good idea. He needs your help like he needs a bullet in the head.

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