Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I've got to say, Deputy Speaker, this government is dependent on props. Their biggest prop is a review, because every time there's a problem there's a review that comes as a result of it. You can't have a plan for a plan. You can't have a review as an exercise in trying to demonstrate activity. What people need to see out in the real world is not another inquiry or review. Mind you, do you know who chipped them on this review obsession? Those great left-wing activists Jeff Kennett and Campbell Newman, who called on governments to wrest back control from the bureaucrats because the government's not doing its own job.

So growth has slowed down. Living standards are going backwards. The government keep talking about how many people are in work, but, when you ask people in work, 'Are you happy with how much you're working and how much you're getting for that?' what do they say? They're not. They are not getting wage increases at all. They're not getting the hours that they need. At the same time, businesses aren't expressing confidence at all. In fact, if you ask the CEOs if they're going to provide a pay increase, even Treasury said that 40 per cent of the CEOs interviewed would not provide a pay increase. What are those CEOs spending it on? They're not investing in business, because business investment is tanking. So the businesses don't have confidence. No-one's getting a wage increase. What's happening with consumer confidence? Consumer confidence is tanking as well.

We can certainly see the Treasurer is very active. He's very active at promoting himself, I might say. He has turned that into an art form. What we would love to see is him tapping some of that energy into something remotely looking like an economic plan—not a political plan or a media plan but a plan to actually help people get a pay increase, a plan that will see businesses invest, a plan that will result in higher consumer confidence and a plan that will see us get out of the mire that we find ourselves in because those opposite got elected and didn't have a plan. They can talk about 'The Plan', with a capital T and a capital P, as the member for Curtin kept going on about. When you ask them about that, what does it comprise? They can't even explain it.

Let me just tell you this: they work so hard against Labor, whatever we've put forward, but then they slowly walk their way towards what we're saying. Mark my words. We argued that the tax cuts should be brought forward. We argued for that. They said no; they wouldn't to do it. But they're walking towards it. We argued for infrastructure investment to be brought forward. They said, 'No, no, no, it can't happen.' The Treasurer is now out asking the states, 'What projects have you got that we can bring forward?' They don't have a plan of their own. They're completely dependent on us putting forward those ideas. The only other form of momentum from them is to attack us. The Australian public deserve better than a political plan and media spin. Get the economy moving. Do your job.

See this speech in context