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

When this Treasurer's time in office comes to an end, probably at the hands of his own party in the not-too-distant future, he will be remembered for a few things. He will not be remembered for bringing down a surplus, because he will not be doing that. He will never bring down a surplus. But he will be remembered for the times that he was allowed out and gave his views on economic policy—the times when the Prime Minister's office, those rare occasions, authorise the Treasurer to go out and make public comments. There was a time when he said, 'Poor people don't drive cars.' He will be remembered for that. But even more than that, he will be remembered for his great advice to young Australians in particular about housing affordability: to go get a better paying job. That advice was taken so well by so many millions of Australians because they had never of it! They had never thought of going and getting a better paid job to give them a better chance of getting into the housing market.

But what was most insulting about that Treasurer's intervention, what Australians have found most angering about his contribution, is that on his watch it has become harder to get a job and harder to get a better paying job, because unemployment is up and wages growth is down on his watch as a result of his actions and his policies. We have the highest rate of unemployment since 2002, when the now Prime Minister was minister for employment. It is the highest rate since then. We have 800,000 Australians unemployed. That is the most since 1994. Since the last election, 114,000 Australians have joined that unemployment queue—114,000.

See this speech in context