Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer advise the House of the importance of carefully managing Commonwealth expenditure in the Australian economy? Are there any threats to that management capability?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question, and I acknowledge the interest that he takes in economic policy. I can tell him that managing expenditures is vitally important for the Australian economy. If we had not been careful about managing expenditures in this country, the budget would still be in deficit and we would be carrying $96 billion of Labor Party debt. A big part of the economic success of the last 10 years has been balancing the budget and repaying Labor debt. That requires careful management of expenditure.

I have watched in amazement over the last week as the Leader of the Opposition has run around Australia promising state premiers every pet project that he can imagine. He began in Queensland, on 18 February, promising the Queensland government $408 million for a recycled water pipeline. He moved on to Western Australia, where he promised money for Gnangara Mound, Canning Dam and the Harvey irrigation project. He moved on to divesting Commonwealth royalties back to the state of Western Australia—

Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

About time too!

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Swan interjects—one of the voices of Brian Burke in this parliament. One wonders whether he has had a phone call telling him when to interject and when not to.

The Leader of the Opposition then moved on to South Australia, where he promised money for a desalination plant for BHP in the Spencer Gulf, and he is moving back to Queensland at the end of this week to promise the Queensland government money for sequestration in relation to the Stanwell power project. All of this would be serious, and if he had actually done some work on any of these projects he could tell you how much water they use, he could tell you how much these projects would save and he could give you some estimate, dollar per litre, of why this may actually be in the national interest. But when he was asked in South Australia how the project for desalination was going to work, he had no idea of the water BHP was using and no idea of how much it would save. He said: ‘It’s 160 from us and 160 from the state.’ Matt Abraham asked him:

How much from BHP?

Mr Rudd answered:

BHP’s investment is already substantial.

Matt Abraham asked:

In the desalination project, how much are they putting in?

Mr Rudd answered:

In terms of the precise investments, in terms of their individual use, those figures I don’t have to hand.

He did not have to hand how much water they were using, how much he was going to save or how much they were going to invest. The only thing he had to hand was that he had 160—as he calls it; this Leader of the Opposition is used to big sums—for the state of South Australia.

Let me remind the House of one of the cardinal, iron laws of Australian politics: never stand between a pot of money and a state Premier. You will be run down on every occasion. And if you open up the federal Treasury to the state premiers, you will be killed in a stampede. State premiers would make the running of the bulls look like a cat race. They would run right over you. The state premiers see this bloke coming. What they want is somebody who could open the federal Treasury, lie down and make himself a doormat. What better person to do that than an ex state public servant—somebody who is used to taking his orders from a state Premier? You can see why the state premiers of Australia, gearing up like the bulls for their run in Pamplona, are licking their lips. This will be no bullfighter; this will be a doormat opening the federal Treasury to a rapacious group of people against Australia’s national interest.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I refer to your ruling before question time, in which you reminded members of the government to refer to members by their proper names. I would ask you to uphold that.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. Has the Treasurer completed his answer?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have, absolutely.