Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion condemning the government’s continued efforts to misrepresent Australia’s economic circumstances and in so doing exacerbating our nation’s economic challenges.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Wentworth from moving immediately—That this House condemns the Government’s continued efforts to misrepresent Australia’s economic circumstances and in so doing are exacerbating our nation’s economic challenges:

(1)

the Prime Minister and the Treasurer persist in their efforts to misrepresent our economic history and present circumstances in a partisan attempt to blacken the economic reputation of the previous Government;

(2)

in doing so, they are themselves a significant risk to our economy, rather than providing sound and objective economic leadership;

(3)

the Prime Minister and Treasurer are fuelling inflationary expectations with their use of immoderate and irresponsible language;

(4)

the Prime Minister and Treasurer are driving down consumer and business confidence with their use of such language;

(5)

the Prime Minister and Treasurer refuse to tell the truth that their economic policy is designed to put Australians out of work in the name of fighting inflation;

(6)

the Prime Minister and Treasurer refuse to take into account the reality that economic activity is much slower outside of Queensland and Western Australia, and that their so-called fight against inflation is likely to have a disproportionately harsh impact on those states; and

(7)

this House formally recognises the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer confidence survey as the real report card on the Prime Minister and Treasurer’s first 100 days in office.

The coalition left the Rudd government with an economy that was in outstanding condition: low unemployment, low inflation, high real wages—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How long is this going for, Mr Speaker?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Wentworth has started debating the question.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor have been so desperate to reclaim some ground on their major weakness—economic management—that they have tried to find something, anything, upon which they can criticise the previous government. They have again and again misrepresented the economic history of this country. We have had the Treasurer saying inflation has been on the march for two years, when we know that in the middle of last year the Reserve Bank itself said that inflation was coming down, far from being on the march. We have had the absurdity of the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the member for Grayndler, saying that the Reserve Bank had given 20 warnings that there should be a coordinating authority for national infrastructure. Where were they to be found? He has just made that up.

The 20 warnings spoken about by the government are nothing of the sort. They do not mention a skills crisis, let alone a chronic skills crisis. They do not say infrastructure bottlenecks are driving up inflation. In fact, one of the so-called Reserve Bank warnings that the government have misrepresented, from June last year, sees the Governor of the Reserve Bank saying that the way in which the labour market is operating to allow those areas with highest demand to see higher wages and other parts of the economy to pick up without causing overall wage inflation is, and I quote, ‘a textbook case of adjustment’.

The government have talked down this economy again and again and attributed all of our economic prosperity to good luck, not good management. Let me say that, when it comes to economic management, appealing to luck only gets you so far. That lesson was learnt the last time Labor was in office. Paul Keating’s ‘recession we had to have’ did not occur as a result of bad luck. We did not have 17-plus per cent interest rates as a result of bad luck. We did not have double digit unemployment rates as a result of bad luck. We did not destroy the job prospects of an entire generation of young Australians as a result of bad luck. We did not have real wage stagnation as a result of bad luck. And we did not have $96 billion in government debt as a result of bad luck. All of those horrors occurred as a result of deliberate policy choices of poor economic management. A party that cannot recognise good economic management when it sees it is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, and that is what Labor now risks doing.

In December last year the Treasurer said he ‘didn’t intend to be one of those first-term Treasurers who only ever talks about the evils of his predecessors’. Well, he has blamed the previous government—and we stopped counting a month ago—more than 110 times. For almost four months now the coalition has been urging the Treasurer to stop talking down the economy. Ever since he has taken on that job, he has been more concerned with trashing the economic legacy of the previous government than focusing on his job to keep the economy strong. The Australian summed it up very succinctly in an editorial only a week ago, when it said we are paying the price for Labor’s attempts to blacken the reputation of the Howard government, because, in doing so, they are fuelling inflationary expectations.

Expectations are everything when it comes to the economy, when it comes to business, when it comes to consumer confidence. That is why I have said to the Treasurer that we are operating in a very volatile global economic environment—unpredictably volatile. So be cautious. Be accurate. Be moderate. Be objective. Speak like a Treasurer should—like the previous Treasurer did—not like somebody who thinks he is still in opposition, trying to bring down a government. The election is over. The Treasurer has to start doing his job, not the job he had a year ago. A Treasurer’s comments can enormously influence economic expectations and confidence. We all remember the effect Paul Keating’s infamous ‘banana republic’ remark had—probably the only remark by a Treasurer on the same level of imprudence as the remark by this Treasurer that ‘the inflation genie’ was ‘out of the bottle’ in Australia, said the day before the Reserve Bank met to consider a change in monetary policy.

The Reserve Bank says again and again, as I quoted in question time earlier, that the key to managing inflation is managing expectations. If people think inflation is going to go up, it will go up. You have to be careful what you wish for. So we have had a Treasurer who hit the headlines all around the world, as he hit the economic future of Australia, when he said, ‘The inflation genie is out of the bottle.’ That was a signal to the world that, in his view—in the view of the Treasurer, the man responsible for managing our $1.1 trillion economy—inflation was out of control. It was a message to the Reserve Bank: ‘Put those interest rates up.’ So, instead of having a Treasurer who urged caution and moderation, we had a Treasurer who was urging the Reserve Bank to put interest rates up.

And we have had this confusion among the economic ministers. We have had, as I said, the Treasurer who says inflation has been on the march for two years—completely and utterly false, self-evidently false, because inflation was perceived, not just by the Reserve Bank but by the Treasury, to be coming down. Indeed, in the middle of last year the Reserve Bank Governor was telling the whole world that inflation was moderating, the interest rate rises of 2006 were doing their job, inflation was coming down—all would be well. And then it picked up later in the year. So the central bank has been responding to that.

We had the Minister for Finance and Deregulation on ABC Radio in Melbourne on 5 February saying the evidence of a serious inflation problem has only begun to mount over the last six months or so. He was right. That is why he is chairing the ERC—because he is competent and the Treasurer is incompetent.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, relatively competent—I am corrected by my colleagues. The Assistant Treasurer said at a press conference on 22 January:

... inflation has been low in Australia over the last few years ...

So the government’s economic team have three different opinions on the recent history of the inflation situation in this country.

What we have at the moment is a country strongly situated in economic terms, with strong growth, low unemployment and inflation in manageable parameters, but we have a government which is exacerbating our economic challenges, worsening inflation and heightening inflationary expectations. Is it any wonder that business confidence is plummeting? That is the report card on the Rudd government.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a job application for the position of Leader of the Opposition, using or abusing the parliament and the House of Representatives to do just that, and they do not want to hear—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. The member for Warringah.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. He can either talk about the suspension or he can talk about the substance of the motion moved by the member for Wentworth, but this—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Warringah will resume his seat. The minister is in order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am speaking against the suspension of standing orders—about why standing orders should not be suspended and the further business of the House deferred. That should not happen, because this is just a stunt. This is a stunt from an opposition that has clearly lost its way. You have the Leader of the Opposition sitting there, the bloke behind him is the person who wants to be the Leader of the Opposition, and all we are seeing is that being played out in front of the nation. That is all this is about.

There was no basis for this. I sat in tactics committees for a few years, and let me tell you that one thing that we did not do in opposition during those years was move a suspension without any lead-up, without any momentum, on the floor of the House of Representatives. You had nothing today—nothing. You got slaughtered by the Treasurer, by the Minister for Ageing, by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, by the Deputy Prime Minister and by the Prime Minister. Question after question that you asked got batted straight over the boundary for six. The most absurd question was from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the small business question—we are still trying to work out what that was about.

Seriously, you ran out of questions at about five or six and then you moved a suspension of standing orders on that basis. But I am not surprised, because this is an opposition that has clearly lost its way. Not only does it not have any ideas about what it stands for, not only does it have no plans for the future; it actually does not even know what its name will be in 12 months time. The fact is that normally when people stand for parliament they stand on the basis of what their party stands for—what they are about. We on this side of the House are elected proudly as Labor Party members—a tradition 117 years long, a tradition of building the nation, a tradition of building equity and a fair go through the Australian system. But I note that Senator Barnaby Joyce today in the Courier-Mail has come up with a different process for the naming and recognition of political parties.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. The member for Warringah on a point of order.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I know that the chair has extended a degree of tolerance in these sorts of debates, but, really, this should either be strictly about the suspension or it should be about the substantive motion that the member for Wentworth sought to have debated.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Warringah has made his point. The member for Warringah will resume his seat. The minister will refer to the motion before the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the motion before the House is whether standing orders should be suspended. That is the motion before the House and that is what I am addressing. We do not agree with that because this is just a distraction from a political coalition that does not know what it stands for and now, Barnaby Joyce has told us, does not even know what its name will be.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Warringah will not come to the dispatch box and start talking until he has the call. I am not going to be hectored in this manner. The member for Warringah.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I respectfully submit to you that there is no way that the minister at the dispatch box can, within the standing orders, talk about Senator Barnaby Joyce—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Warringah has made his point of order. He will resume his seat.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The only reason this suspension has been moved is relevance deprivation syndrome of the person who has moved it, because he did not get enough questions this week. That is what it is about—it is about the leadership of the Liberal Party. We have a plan here, exposed by Senator Barnaby Joyce, for a new name for the amalgamated Liberal and National parties. The Leader of the Opposition, not being satisfied with being a member of two parties in the past—ours and theirs—now wants to form a third party so he can join that as well.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will refer to the motion before the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am referring to the motion before the House. It is whether standing orders should be suspended. Be very clear: that is the motion before the House. The reason why this is occurring is that this is a distraction from a party and a coalition at war with itself—unclear about what it stands for. If you look at the debate that is going on on their side of the House—on this side of the House you see 117 years of proud tradition and history—they do not even know what their political party will stand for. The member for Hinkler over there made a contribution to Barnaby Joyce’s suggestion. It was this:

It’s a good idea from Barnaby, with one proviso: that you get the best three names and present them to marketing experts.

We think, as Labor members, that ‘Labor’ reflects what we stand for. We know ‘Liberal’ does not reflect what they stand for. We know that ‘National’ does not reflect what they stand for. So what name would they come up with? ‘Tail Waggers’ has already been taken by the pet food company up on the north coast that does not produce any pet food. It is extraordinary that, as one of the two big parties in this nation, they have been reduced to this sort of activity. They have even proposed a prize. Senator Joyce said:

There would have to be a prize, but I’m not sure what it would be. It would have to be something of relevance.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, on a further point of order: this is all very well for Marrickville Council, but this kind of conduct from the minister demeans the parliament. He should be required to speak to the motion.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will refer to the motion before the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion is that standing orders be suspended. And this is why standing orders should not be suspended: this parliament should not have its activities taken over because of their internal problems. Go away and sort it out. Have the courage to challenge and sort out your leadership difficulties. You are already proclaiming in your local paper that you are going to sort it out, but it is a question of when. That is what it is about. Here we have a political party having a prize for submitting a suggestion for what the name of the political party will be!

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a suspension of standing orders on the basis that consumer confidence is at an all-time low and that the government has been talking down the economy. That is the substantive issue, and the minister at the table should not demean the parliament by avoiding the topic.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. The minister will return to the motion before the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will continue to speak to the motion—on why we should not support this suspension of standing orders and not engage all of the Australian public in having to put up with the fact that the opposition are a rabble who have lost their way, who have no ideas or plans for the future and do not even know their identity. They do not even know what they will be called.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is the prize going to be?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney asked what the prize could be. A very good question from the member for Sydney.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will return to the motion before the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It could be a long lunch with the member for Mayo, perhaps. Second prize could be dinner as well.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, the process underway is a motion to suspend standing orders so that there can be a debate about the government talking down the economy and consumer confidence being at its lowest ever.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume her seat. The motion before the House—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Albanese interjecting

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister has not got the—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Albanese interjecting

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member’s time has expired. The motion before the House is a motion to suspend standing orders.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have just heard about why it is so important that the House agrees to this motion. The government have absolutely no idea of the serious circumstances they now find themselves in, and they have absolutely no idea about how serious the consequences are for the course of action that they have chosen in talking down the Australian economy. By talking down the Australian economy, the Treasurer and the Labor Party are misleading the Australian people and they are damaging the future of Australia’s prosperity.

The reality—and everyone in this House knows it—is that this government inherited the strongest economy of any incoming government in the history of Australia. Labor inherited a strong economy, and it is now creating the expectation of what will happen if that economy falters.

Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The opposition have to show why standing orders should be suspended.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Stirling will refer to the motion before the House, which is to suspend standing orders.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason that standing orders must be suspended, and the reason why it is urgent that this happen, is that we have a government that have absolutely no idea of the consequences of the course of action that they are choosing to take. They have no idea of the consequences for Australia’s families, and they have no idea of the consequences of talking down the Australian economy.

What plans, if any, does this government have to manage the economy? We had adverts running in Western Australia during the election campaign, with Kevin Rudd coming forward and saying, ‘We have a plan to manage Australia’s $1.1 trillion economy,’ but all we hear from the government now is complaints about the economy it inherited, even though this economy it the strongest of any incoming government in the history of this country. The reason that this motion must be agreed to is that we have had a collapse in consumer and business confidence. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index fell 9.1 per cent in March to 88.6 points. This index is 23.3 per cent below its level a year ago, and it is at its lowest level since September 1993, which was at the end of the ‘recession that we had to have’.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. There is nothing vaguely approaching relevance to the motion. The truth is that the opposition does not want to deal with a ministerial statement about the export wheat marketing arrangements. It has been causing chaos—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Stirling will come to the motion before the House to suspend standing orders.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason we must suspend standing orders is that confidence has fallen to record lows, and the government has absolutely no understanding of the serious consequences of that for the Australian economy. The reason we must suspend standing orders is that the government does not understand the consequences of the course of action it is pursuing. Confidence affects issues such as employment and inflation, and it affects the overall condition of the Australian economy.

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The seconder of the motion is moving into the substantive matters that are the subject of the motion sought unsuccessfully to be moved by the member for Wentworth. He should return to the content of the motion before the House, which is a suspension motion.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Stirling has been asked to refer to the substantive motion before the chair.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I am making the case as to why it is urgent that this House suspend standing orders. It is urgent because this government is pursuing a course of action that is damaging the interests of the Australian people. It is urgent that we suspend standing orders because there has been a collapse in consumer and business confidence. That is why this is urgent: because the government has a political strategy that is damaging the interests of the Australian people. So it is urgent that this House suspend standing orders to address the problems with the government’s approach. It is urgent that we suspend standing orders because last month’s Sensis business index revealed that support for the new government’s policies has plummeted 34 percentage points, for a net balance of negative five per cent.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for the debate has expired. The question is that the motion be agreed to. All those of that opinion say aye and against say no. I think the noes have it.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Division required.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Warringah will remove himself from the House under standing order 94(a).

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Abbott interjecting

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, you didn’t; you were advising the chair on how to progress.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My apologies but, from my point of view at the moment, the member for Warringah has spent the last debate advising from the sidelines on how the chair is to progress. He may have got away with it in the last parliament, but he should desist in this. I will withdraw, because I thought that was what I was hearing. I was about to say: ‘I think the noes have it. Is a division required?’ Yes, it is. Ring the bells for four minutes.

Question put:

That the motion (Mr Turnbull’s) be agreed to.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.