Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Where is the self-worth and self-esteem of the Labor Party after what you left us with after your years of government? You left this nation with massive debt and continuing growth in debt. The member for Moreton talked about rising unemployment. Who signalled rising unemployment but the former Treasurer, Wayne Swan? He signalled rising unemployment in each budget that they put forward, didn't he? There is a lag in those figures that always comes 18 months afterwards. What did you leave us with? Where did you point the direction of the economy?

It is a disgrace that you can stand there in this day and age and pretend, even with the cuts that you were prepared to make in previous budgets—that you can stand there now and say, 'But we're not supporting those cuts anymore.' What intended hypocrisy! How can the Labor Party that I knew—and that I know some of my people in the seat of McMillan actually vote for—sit there and oppose every balanced part of the budget that this nation needs to make, the cuts that need to be made, the cuts that you as a Labor Party signalled? You signalled that these are the things that have to be done in this nation to get the budget in order so our families will be better off and so small businesses can grow, yet you come in with these speeches that are laden with hypocrisy and duplicity. I cannot believe that you would try to mislead this nation in such a way.

Yes, unemployment figures are growing, and they are the legacy of what the Labor government left us after they were defeated at the last election. When this government came in and began to put our nation's economic wellbeing in order, what did the Labor Party say? It said: 'We'll join with the crossbenchers in the Senate to stop everything. Nothing will go through. No cut, no change—nothing of any substance will go through for the next 18 months until there is an election, which we believe we can win.' That is what it is all about. That is exactly what it is all about. The way you have treated this parliament with contempt is a disgrace and you are continuing to do it with every speech that comes forward—especially that of the member for Moreton. I would have expected more from him.

I made a mistake the other day—

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