Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, that is right, Treasurer; that is what you did. He storms out of the chamber, shaking his head. The fact of the matter is that he has given $9 billion to the Reserve Bank, which increases this year's deficit and increases our interest bill by $1 billion over the next four years. He borrowed money and gave it to the Reserve Bank. They watered down Labor's tax integrity measures and made changes to support people with more than $2 million in their superannuation accounts. Those are this government's priorities—all things which increase the deficit and increase the debt. So what do we see? We see the Treasurer asking for an increase in the debt limit, first to half a trillion dollars. That was his first act, and he acted surprised and hurt that the opposition did not just say, 'We know you said you'd pay off the debt, but, if you want half a trillion dollars, that's all right.' No—it does not work that way. What happens is: you have to justify it. On each occasion when the former government asked the House for an increase to the debt limit, it was justified by a budget or an economic statement—on every single occasion. Not once did the member for Lilley, the then Treasurer, come into the chamber and say, 'By the way, I need an increase in the debt limit and I'll show you the figures later'—not once, because that is the wrong thing to do. You justify yourself to the parliament by releasing the midyear economic forecast and a statement, but what we see is the new Treasurer saying, 'I need half a trillion dollars and I'll show you the paperwork later.' Australia's biggest no-doc loan—that is what the Treasurer wants.

The Treasurer found that he could not get that through the parliament because the Greens' position then was that an increase of $200 million was not justified. Now their position is that we do not need a debt limit at all. So the Greens have had a change of position over the last few weeks. That is okay; political parties are allowed to do that. But the biggest change of all is from the government, which told the Australian people solemnly that they would pay off the debt. The Treasurer had a chance to explain. He said, 'You've got to let us fix up the mess,' as he calls it; 'You've got to let us fix the debt.' So his position is: 'We've got to get rid of the debt limit to pay off the debt.' He has not explained the internal inconsistency in that little equation: 'We've got to pay off the debt, so we'll get rid of the debt limit.' Well, I think there are Liberal voters around Australia scratching their heads, thinking: 'Is this really the government we voted for? Is this really the government that promised to pay off the debt and said that we are open for business; the same Treasurer who showed that we are open for business by knocking back a foreign investment application—

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