Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Treasurer is heading out the door. I like the fact that he didn't dispute me on the facts; he disputed me on the name. That's a very important point, Deputy Speaker. The Treasurer is heading out the door.

What we see is that monetary policy is being counteracted by this government. What we see is a government that is underspending on the NDIS to the tune of $4.6 billion in a year. We have expansionary monetary policy, which is there to put downward pressure on the currency to help net exporters to boost employment in export sectors. We see expansionary monetary policy, which is to lower borrowing costs, which is to boost the capacity of borrowers to spend. What do we see the government doing? We see its policies counteracting expansionary monetary policy. We see its policies not increasing government spending in key areas based on good policy but taking money out of the economy. It's not only heartless, it's not only bad policy; it's actually counteracting what the Reserve Bank is doing. So at the heart of our economy is a structural problem where our two main economic levers are working at odds. This must change. The Governor of the Reserve Bank said that, with interest rates at the lowest level they have been since Federation, Australia should not rely on monetary policy alone. Too true! This government needs to act on fiscal policy, on economic reform. It needs to take some action with its own levers so that the Reserve Bank is not doing all of the heavy lifting.

What should the government be doing? First and foremost, it should stop underspending in areas where good public policy would suggest more investment needs to be made. Secondly, it should be spending on infrastructure. Economic experts, the Reserve Bank and others are lining up to state that, with record low interest rates and slack in the labour market, we need more infrastructure spending—not just the mega-projects, but local projects in outer suburban areas and in regional areas. This government needs to be doing far more—good policy projects that could boost employment. The Reserve Bank has been saying it time and time again, but this government will not listen. The government should bring forward targeted tax cuts. What this government is focused on is tax cuts, often in the never-never, for the highest income earners. That's not what our government needs. It's not good public policy and it's also not what our economy needs in the short term.

Our economy's weaknesses have been years in the making—years of inaction by this government. What we see right now is that this government is acting in a way that counteracts what the Reserve Bank is trying to achieve and it is not implementing a raft of policies that our economy needs—investment in infrastructure, investment in people through VET, investment in the NDIS. This government needs to take action to boost our living standards and our resilience to economic shocks.

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