James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I regret the amount of time I spent preparing for this MPI. Being the final speaker, I thought there would have been a cogent economic argument mounted by those opposite that I'd have to be ready to spend five minutes rebutting. Unfortunately, I haven't got a lot to draw on. When I saw the member for Rankin stand up, I felt for him. His heart really just wasn't in it. He was thrown one of the great hospital passes by Labor's leadership when they decided this morning that they would send him out to debate the question, 'The government's longstanding failures on the economy'. I suspect they were hoping that, when the national accounts were released a little later on, the economy hadn't grown as strongly as in fact those accounts released by the RBA showed: 0.5 per cent for the quarter, an increase of 2.2 per cent year on year.

Disappointingly for the Labor Party, but not for the rest of the people of Australia, the economy is growing strongly. An increase of 0.5 per cent in the December quarter exceeded the expectations of the markets, and, whilst we will never be complacent or relaxed in the economic settings and policy levers that we're responsible for as the elected government of this country, I think that it is an excellent endorsement of the policy decisions of the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the cabinet to get a result like that. Of course the member for Rankin had to come in here—I suppose if you haven't got something nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all—I'd describe his contribution as gentle. It was a very gentle contribution—

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