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

In recent days, the parliament and the people have been exposed to the spectacle—the undignified spectacle—of the Prime Minister ducking and weaving, denying promises that he made on camera, denying the implications of what he said, denying what he said to the Australian people and the firm commitments he made to the Australian people before the election. It is an undignified spectacle from the Prime Minister of Australia. He has had one defence against all of it; he says: 'Yes, but I am fixing the budget. I am doing all this to fix the budget. I know I said before the election that I wouldn't use the budget as an excuse to breach my promises, but I'm fixing the budget.' That is his alibi to the Australian people. That is his excuse for the breach of his commitments to the Australian people right across the board, including Australia's pensioners, Australia's families and Australia's Friends of the ABC and Save Our SBS. That is his alibi and excuse. But his alibi is a false one; his excuse is a feeble one, because, despite that excuse, he is not fixing the budget. Even by his own test, the budget is getting worse on his watch and on his Treasurer's watch.

It takes a special kind of talent to bring down a budget so unfair and so regressive and so rejected by the Australian people and the parliament! This is a budget which rips our social fabric as well as making our economy worse; that takes a special kind of talent from a very ordinary Treasurer! We have a Treasurer so driven by prejudice that he is prepared to bring in cuts which not only damage Australian families but also damage confidence in the Australian economy, damage the budget itself and damage business conditions right across the country. This is a Treasurer who is so determined to score political points that he is talking our economy down and using irresponsible language. The Treasurer of Australia is so determined to play politics that his words and deeds are a wrecking ball to confidence.

We have an unusual situation in Australia. Normally, it is the government talking the budget up and the government talking the economy up. That is the normal situation. In Australia, we have a Treasurer determined to talk the economy and the budget down, and an opposition responsibly pointing out the economic and budget fundamentals. That is how extreme and desperate this Treasurer is. The Treasurer talked the economy down in the lead-up to the budget, and we saw the impact immediately. When the Australian people actually saw the budget and the cuts their Treasurer had in mind, we saw the impact on our economy even more starkly.

We had the Treasurer and Prime Minister say there would be an adrenaline rush to the economy and consumer confidence just by their very election. Well, some adrenaline and some rush! We have seen consumer confidence fall 13 per cent since the election. The now Treasurer, the former shadow Treasurer, has had plenty to say about consumer confidence over the years. He issued a press release on 14 December 2011 in relation to a decline in consumer confidence entitled 'Consumers lose confidence in government'. He tweeted—he does like Twitter, our Treasurer, and he used to like it a little more. He used to consult it about public policy, about little matters like climate change! He did a cracker of a tweet on 14 May 2013! He tweeted:

This Budget delivers even more debt, deficits, taxes and broken promises from a Government that can't be trusted.

He's a clairvoyant! He saw his own budget coming 12 months in advance! I am often critical of our Treasurer, but he could see into the future on that particular occasion!

But make no mistake: the impact on the Australian economy and on consumer confidence is a direct result of his words and his deeds, and there are plenty of people who have made this point. In relation to the latest Westpac index of consumer sentiment in May, Westpac's chief economist, Bill Evans, commented:

The sharp fall in the Index is clearly indicating an unfavourable response to the recent Federal Budget.

That was one of the sharp declines in consumer confidence. When asked by Westpac in May what impact consumers expected the budget to have on their family finances over the next 12 months, 59.2 per cent considered that they would worsen—and they are right. What an impact that had on consumer confidence right across the country. In September, the budget still loomed large. It was delivered in May; in September, it still loomed large in relation to consumer confidence. On recall of major news items, the proportion of respondents recalling news items relating to budget and taxation issues was the second highest since the survey was introduced in the mid-1970s. Do you know when the highest one was, Madam Speaker? It was the one just before, under this Treasurer as well. He has the highest and the second highest on his watch. This is a direct result of his words and his deeds.

We hear a lot from this Treasurer and this government about how they are business friendly and they understand business, but there actions belie their words. The Australian Institute of Company Directors have called them out for what they are. They did a survey of directors across the country, with almost half the directors claiming the government's performance is impacting negatively on their business decisions. A majority of directors believe that the federal government's performance is negatively affecting consumer confidence—well, there is plenty of evidence for that. Around half of directors rate the government's performance in office as poor or very poor. It gets worse. Directors have become more pessimistic about the future, and an increasing number of them say the federal government does not understand business and does not understand their concerns. This is the impact of this so-called pro-business government and this pro-business Treasurer.

This has a direct impact on the budget bottom line. We are going to see a budget update in a couple of weeks. Remember when the previous government had to write down revenue? The Treasurer would get into full huff-and-puff mode. He would beat his chest like only he can. He would allege a scandal; he would allege incompetence; he would say that there was no revenue problem and that it would all be different under his watch. What do we get today when we ask, 'What will you do: will you blame revenue or blame Labor?' He is not a man for half measures, our Treasurer. He proudly proclaims, 'Both.' He is going to blame both. What a diminished figure this Treasurer is.

We will see the impact of his own actions and words in a couple of weeks in the budget update. We have already seen it in the figures. We have seen it in consumer confidence. We have seen it in the national performance of services survey. Seventy per cent of our economy is services and we have seen them contract for eight consecutive months. We saw in September the link made directly by that survey to the budget. The survey raised 'concerns about the weak state of the local economy and the effect of federal budget uncertainties'. That is a direct result of this Treasurer's incompetence, his lack of an economic strategy and his lack of an ability to convince the parliament or the people that his policies are fair—because they are not. His budget is fundamentally unfair and it is also wrong for the Australian economy.

We have a Treasurer who fundamentally misjudged the state of the economy in May, who thought that the economy could do with a dose of him talking it down, who thought that the economy could do with a dose of his harsh cuts and who thought that the economy could do with a dose of his rhetoric and his actions—and the economy is paying a price. Every Australian worker is paying a price. Australia's young people are paying a price, with youth unemployment the highest it has been since the now Prime Minister was minister for employment, with youth underutilisation at a record high in the labour market and with a youth unemployment crisis—and what is this government's response? To deliberately create an underclass by throwing people under 30 off the Newstart allowance. That is a shame when it comes to fairness and it is a shame when it comes to economic policy.

Is it any wonder that we see senior Liberals privately speculating in quite an extraordinary development, and perhaps senior Nationals as well, that the Treasurer might not make it to the next election? He might join that small and exclusive group of treasurers who are so incompetent that they cannot make a term. This Treasurer might be sacked by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Communications put in his place. This Treasurer is so incompetent that senior Liberals speculate that he will not make it because he is incompetent, because he misunderstands the economy, because his unfair policies are bad for Australian families, because he has created budget emergencies right across the country—

Mr Briggs interjecting—

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