Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

No, I didn't, not one. They were still handing out cheques last year when he was Treasurer to deal with an economic crisis in 2009 supposedly. That is how incompetent the Labor Party are. So I disagree with the Treasurer. The mining tax was not the worst policy implementation of the member for Lilley; it was the insanity of handing out $900 cheques. The member for McMahon deep down inside knows it.

Mr Husic interjecting—

Don't worry, Ed; you have had a good 24 hours, mate. You have had a great 24 hours. You are going to get quoted more often in the next 24 hours than you will for a long time.

We do have a challenge with the budget. We have a challenge with the economy. We need to address the structural challenges in the economy, and we will do that. We are going to do that in the coming months. The budget will be a forward-looking document which starts to address the substantial challenges that the Labor Party has left this country and our people. It is not just the debt that is a problem; it is not just the deficits that are a problem; it is the structure of the economy, which means that young people cannot get a chance at work.

It is shameful that in my home state, in my home town of Adelaide, there is 19.7 per cent youth unemployment in the northern suburbs. That is the record of six years of Labor at the federal level, and that is the record of 12 years of Labor at the state level. Jay Weatherill, the state Labor Premier for another 14 days, said on Monday that it does not matter—that it is all over the top; it does not matter at all—and that there is no jobs crisis. There is 20 per cent youth unemployment in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, and the Labor Premier says it does not matter. Hang your heads in shame. Jay Weatherill says 20 per cent youth unemployment does not matter. It does matter.

We will address the structural problems in the budget. We will address the structural problems in the economy. One of the ways that we are going to address the structural problems in the budget and in the economy is that we will invest in the productive capacity of the economy through infrastructure. We will invest in the roads of the 21st century. We will, for instance, build a north-south corridor in South Australia. We will invest in WestConnex, which will help people in Western Sydney reduce their travel time. It will ensure that we get the productive capacity of that city up. We will also invest in the East West Link in Melbourne. One of the things about which we absolutely agree with the secretary of the AWU in Melbourne is where he says that it is a project that must go ahead. It is a project that must go ahead, and under 'the infrastructure Prime Minister' it will go ahead. And we will have more to say about infrastructure through the budget process.

There is a budget crisis left by the Labor Party. There are structural problems within the economy which mean that our young people do not get the opportunity at a job that they should. There is an utter difference in the approach to the economy between our side of parliament and their side of parliament. They believe in the power of government. They believe in the power of government programs in creating jobs. We believe in our people. We believe in our people and the entrepreneurial spirit. We will take the tax pressure off them. We will get rid of the carbon tax. We will get rid of the mining tax. We will get rid of the regulatory burden, and we will build the infrastructure of the 21st century to create a stronger and more prosperous Australia.

See this speech in context