Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

None of the members over the other side calling out will probably ever occupy the Lodge, with any luck. We know that the member for Fraser has designs on the member for Maribyrnong's position at the moment. He could well do a better job but, unlike the member for Grayndler, he may well need the votes of both caucus and the people. He talked about some of the privatisation scuttlebutt that has been going around about Snowy Hydro and Australia Post. That is not on the drawing board at the moment. It has not been flagged by government. It is just media speculation. He also talked about the budget crisis being unreal. Parliament's independent budget adviser rejected claims by Labor and the Greens, and who would ever believe the Greens? The very worst Labor member, I have to say, is better than the best Greens member.

An opposition member interjecting—

I am not saying the member for Fraser is the worst Labor member by any stretch of the imagination but, certainly, claims that there has been some sort of concocted budget crisis are unfounded. Remarks that effectively endorse government's warnings that, if left unchecked, gross debt would balloon to $667 billion are from no less than the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Phil Bowen, who said it was time to begin the return to surplus to protect the economy against future crises. Of course he is accurate. He told the Australian Financial Review:

It is time to start coming out [of debt and deficit], otherwise the longer you leave it the more exposed you become and the harder it is to wind it back.

It is good advice. Labor members need to get on board with the program that we have got in place, the infrastructure spend that we are doing, the commitment to our veterans and our defence and certainly the spending that we are going to be doing in health and education to get over the next four years, the forward estimates, and get this country back on track.

We need to make sure that this country's credibility is restored. We have to be competitive. We have to give our taxpayers value for their tax dollars. That applies whether you are in Pitt Street or Swanston Street or in regional Australia. I know that the people I represent, the people that the member for Wright and the member for Hughes represent and the people that you, Deputy Speaker Hawke, represent as the member for Mitchell want better value for money. They did not get it in six years of Labor, six years of racking up debt and deficit. But Tony Abbott, Warren Truss and the team are getting on with the job of restoring confidence and restoring respectability and accountability to government.

Expenditure agreed to.

Debate adjourned.

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