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

In thinking about the Abbott government it is worth posing a question: if the Abbott government were a gameshow, what gameshow would they be? With all the backgrounding of each other, the leaks, the dysfunction, they could be Family Feud. That would be appropriate. Or there is all this speculation about whether the Treasurer will be asked to leave or stay or whether he will get a rose from the Prime Minister or not, so maybe it is The Bachelor. Or, when you look at the blank and forlorn faces of the backbench whenever the Prime Minister gives an answer in question time, I reckon there is a strong case for Blankety Blanks. Or, if you look at how the government is always keen to give tax breaks to high-income earners but tax more low-income earners and provide cuts to low-income earners, perhaps Wheel of Fortune or—even better—Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Or, if you look at the entire cabinet, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? comes to mind.

But I think the winner is a show that was around a few years ago; I am sure many honourable members recall it—it was called The Weakest Link. And we know who the weakest link in the government is. It is a pretty senior weak link: it is the Treasurer of Australia. The Treasurer of Australia is the weak link in this government. One of the government's most senior members, the member with the core responsibility of economic management, is the weak link of the government. That is a big problem for the government, but it is a bigger problem for Australia. It is a bigger problem for our country that we have a man as Treasurer of Australia who is simply not up to the job. We know we are not the only ones who think he is not up to the job. We are not the only ones in the House who think that. We know that the Minister for Foreign Affairs thinks that. I think you have a problem when somebody who was not up to being shadow Treasurer thinks the incumbent is not up to being Treasurer—then the Treasurer should know he has a big problem.

We know also that the nation pays a price for this incompetence. The nation is paying a price right now. We heard all the empty promises about adrenaline rushes and surges in confidence and unemployment coming down, and this Treasurer has delivered the opposite. He is the man without a plan. He is the man who has delivered 0.2 per cent growth for the quarter, the lowest growth in a decade—

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

When you disregard the global financial crisis and Cyclone Yasi, we have the lowest growth in a decade on this Treasurer's watch.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

See this speech in context