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

It has been quite a week in this chamber. It has been quite a week in Australian politics. But the overriding impression left, by this government—for the Australian people—by their behaviour in this chamber and outside it, is their level of delusion, their level of denial and their level of misunderstanding of the impacts of their own actions. They just do not get it.

Perhaps the most spectacular example has been the rather special performance of the Minister for Education over the last 24 hours—but he does not have the prize all to himself. In no area is their level of delusion and denial more worrying, more concerning, than when it comes to the management of our economy. One of the most important responsibilities given to a government is the management of the national economy, to ensure strong growth of our economy and to ensure that our finances are in good shape.

We have seen the impact of their denial over the last 48 hours. We had the Prime Minister hold a press conference, where he said: 'Confidence is returning to our economy.' There is only one little problem with that—it is not. The figures are very clear. We saw it with the Treasurer today. He denied that the previous Labor government had achieved three AAA ratings from the three major ratings agencies. He just denied it had happened. I have news for him: it did, I am sorry to inform the Treasurer. He also made a mistake when it came to the unemployment rate, but we are not going to quibble over details. That would be unfair to the Treasurer, because he is not very good at details when it comes to the Australian economy.

They thought it would all be easy. That is the fundamental dynamic we are seeing played out in their management of the economy. We know that because they told us. The Prime Minister, when he was Leader of the Opposition, said: 'There will be an instantaneous adrenaline charge in our economy.' If only it were that easy. Let's have a look at how that adrenaline charge is going. We have seen Westpac's consumer confidence index show a 13 per cent reduction since the election. We see the Treasurer clinging onto a bit of hope in the ANZ index. He said, 'Don't worry about the Westpac index. What would Westpac know about consumer confidence? Let's have a look at the ANZ index.'

There is a little problem for the Treasurer in the ANZ index as well. If you look at the ANZ index, the annual average on that index is 111.4. But 111.4 for this year is not a great result, I have to break it to the Treasurer. In fact, it has not been lower since 1993. It is the equal-worst result since 1993, if you put aside the global financial crisis that saw consumer confidence impacted by world events.

We saw the Treasurer valiantly deny any of this today. 'Nothing to see here,' he said. 'Move along; there is nothing to see in the economy. There's no problem.' He said, 'Look at jobs. We're creating jobs twice as fast.' A couple of months ago he said it was five times as fast, but it is a moving feast for the Treasurer when it comes to figures. Even on this level, his record is a very poor one.

If you look at job creation since the budget, it is a very poor story indeed. We have seen unemployment increase. We have seen 42,000 more people on Australia's unemployment queues since he stood at that dispatch box and brought down his unfair budget, which smashed confidence. We have seen jobs growth slow to about a third the level it was before he brought down his budget. And we have seen youth unemployment increase dramatically—to its highest level in 13 years—on this Treasurer's watch. They are the facts.

When you look at full-time jobs growth, as a total since the budget, it comes out at close to zero. Effectively, there were no full-time jobs created. It has gone up and down over the months, but if you look at the record since the budget it is a very poor one indeed. Today we have had two bits of news for the Treasurer, which he likes to ignore. He stood at the dispatch box and talked about the importance of services—and he is right. Services are 70 per cent of our economy. Services are vital. Confidence in services is very important in our services sector. Today we had the latest update. We have had several updates on the services sector.

Those updates have shown the impact of this Treasurer's budget. The organisation which conducts those surveys, the Australian Industry Group, has made clear and explicit what is going on here and what is impacting on confidence in the services sector. It is this government's budget. They said it clearly. They said it in black and white. Again today AIG said that the services sector 'remained disturbingly weak in November, reflecting fragile consumer and business sentiment …'. The Australian economy remains stuck in the slow lane. This Treasurer, if you listened to him, would not think that. He does not appear to know it or recognise it.

Then we had the national accounts, which showed a growth of 0.3 per cent. The Treasurer thinks that is a fantastic result. The fact that it is less than half of market expectation seems to have escaped him. I then asked him a very simple and basic question. But there was one word that could not pass his lips—there are two words that cannot pass this government's lips. There is a 'W' word—wrong—and there is an 'R' word—recession. There is a fact: Australia is in an income recession.

The AustralianFinancial Review said that income recession is confirmed as GDP growth slows, from just a couple of hours ago. It is very clear, but the Treasurer seems to not acknowledge it. What he has done by his words and his actions is damage the Australian economy. He has brought down an unfair budget—that is true. He has attacked the cost of living of ordinary Australians—that is true. He has brought down a budget which is regressive and fundamentally unfair. He stands accused and he is guilty of it. But he also stands accused of bringing down a budget which is bad for the economy, because he fundamentally does not understand it. He fundamentally does not understand his job. He fundamentally does not understand that when a Treasurer speaks it has an impact. When a Treasurer talks about confidence it has an impact.

The Australian people look to a Treasurer to understand what is going on with the Australian economy. When the Treasurer engaged in his irresponsible and ill-thought-out rhetoric in the lead up to the budget, he had an impact, because when a Treasurer speaks the nation listens. When a Treasurer says something, it has an impact, and this Treasurer could not resist playing politics. He just could not resist because he loves opposition. He could not make the transition to government, and the transition to government means there is a responsibility on him to talk about the strength of the economy and the strength of the budget, and he could not bring himself to do it. We saw confidence starting to be smashed just as he started to talk about the budget. We did not have an adrenaline rush; we had a Mogadon rush from this Treasurer as he started with his rhetoric, and it got worse with his actions. He has acted irresponsibly, he has acted immaturely and he has shown he is just not up to the job of being Treasurer. He is just not up to the task that has been entrusted to him by the Australian people and by the Prime Minister. He is just not up to it. That is why we see speculation that he is not going to make it to election day as the Treasurer, because he just does not understand his role.

He does not understand the insult that he provides to the Australian people, and particularly to the people of Adelaide and Port Adelaide, when he says, 'We needed to get rid of the car industry for the free trade agreements. We needed to do that. I just didn't tell you at the time.' He did not say that, but he was goading Holden to leave Australia. He did not say, 'We need you to go so we can conduct a free trade negotiation with China and other countries.' He said that after the event. He does not understand the insult when he inaccurately says, 'We don't have time for something as outrageous as an open and transparent tender for a minor government procurement like the next generation of Australia's submarines. We couldn't possibly have time for that.' He knows he is wrong. He has been told he is wrong. We have again seen Australian Industry Group nail him for his error, and they are not the only ones. When it comes to this Treasurer, he just does not get it. He does not get it that he has an impact when he says that poor people do not drive cars. He does not get it that he has an impact when he says, 'Don't worry about the car industry, because we need a free trade agreement.' He does not get it that he has an impact when he says, 'We don't have time for such luxuries as an open and transparent tender. We wouldn't want to do that!' It is no wonder that people are speculating that he will not make the next election, because he is just not up to the job. (Time expired)

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