Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

They are, member for Gellibrand, acting like they are still in opposition. They are always causing a fight and they always want to find a way to create division. For nearly two years they have been trying to get through their first budget—a budget that shocked the general public because of the fact that it was such a contrast to what was being promised, to what was being suggested would happen when this government got into office, to what they were planning to do. They shocked and stunned the public massively.

But I have got to say, when you think about that stalled budget, I like reading The Australian Financial Review, especially on the weekends. It is a very good read. What I like about it is that editor Michael Stutchbury has got a sense of humour—he does! I looked at it on the weekend. The person who had trouble getting his first budget through, who spent most of the two years in office trying to get a budget through—do you know what they called him? They called him the 'delivery man'. They called Joe Hockey the delivery man. Stutch has got a great sense of humour. This was a 'crackalackin' read!

Look at growth. It was spluttering along, and the RBA was softening us up for lower growth. Joe Hockey's quote in this article is, 'Our economy is more robust today than it has ever been.' That is the Joe Hockey quote. He reckons it is more robust than it has ever been. This is what the man who struggled to get his own budget through said: 'Look what we have achieved in the first 22 months and no-one could accuse us of standing still.' This is a Treasurer who counts going backwards as momentum. He will take that; he will count going backwards as momentum.

Look at every single measure. Joblessness is now higher than it was in the GFC, the highest in 20 years—backwards on that. He is going to count that as momentum. Growth, as I have mentioned, is already softening and is nowhere near the level that will help sustain job growth. Living standards are quite a shock and should have received a lot more focus, when you consider what is happening on that front. You can see here that the living standards of Australians—as measured by real, net national disposable income per capita—have gone backwards for four straight quarters under this government—backwards! Look at what is happening with wages. Wages are growing now at the lowest rate of growth since the RBA began records, the lowest rate of growth since 1995. The Treasurer is claiming we are not standing still. He is right. He is not standing still—the economy is going backwards, growth in wages is flattening and the jobless rate is higher. Also, debt and deficit; they do not talk about that much anymore. Where is the old debt and deficit line that you used to have? Where did it go? They are right; they are not standing still. Debt and deficit has gone up. They told us it would go down. It is up. So on every measure this government has failed us. And the 'delivery man'? What is he delivering?

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