Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The great sage Yogi Berra once said, 'When you come to a fork in the road, take it.' He might have been anticipating the Abbott-Turnbull government's approach to economic leadership. In the nearly six months since we were promised better economic leadership, we have seen the government countenance an increase to the GST, scoffing at a so-called not-very-scary scare campaign before running away with their tails between their legs. We have seen them moot retrospective changes to negative gearing and a proposal to tax the superannuation of all Australians. They have suggested that they might deal with bracket creep, without making clear how they would deal with the fact that 80 per cent of their return to surplus relies on bracket creep. And they have attacked Labor's negative gearing and capital gains tax policy, saying it will cause house prices to go up or down or flatline. It is like being attacked by a yoyo!

Instead of economic leadership, we have got wage growth falling, capital expenditure tanking, the share market down, living standards down and confidence down. At the same time, we have got debt up, deficits up and unemployment up. Their lines should be going up when they are coming down, while the economic numbers in Australia that should be coming down are going up and the ones that should be going up are coming down. Frankly, Australians are beginning to ask themselves: have they just got Tony Abbott in a silver wig, and is Sco-Mo just on a go-slow?

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