Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about the behaviour that those opposite are engaging in in the Senate. They are being obstructive and blocking this government’s measures in our first budget. We could maybe understand that if it was for strategic policy reasons, but we know it is not. We know it is about cheap political point scoring. Those opposite are siding with big oil, with alcohol distillers and with luxury car makers, and they are not siding with working families, the carers, the pensioners or those Australians doing it tough. Their blocking of our measures to date will leave approximately a $6.2 billion hole in the budget, and this is not responsible. What will happen if they are successful in their $6.2 billion raid? It will mean that $6.2 billion will not be available to invest in broadband, that $6.2 billion will not be available to invest in public transport or that $6.2 billion will not be available for health or education infrastructure.

The Liberals over there are divided. They do not have the long-term leadership that can keep Australia’s economy strong. They certainly do not have any long-term economic or nation-building plans. The only plan we do know that they have is to bring back Work Choices, which would again wreak havoc with the household budgets of working families.

There was a lack of strategic investment by those opposite. They presided over 12 years of inaction. But let us look closely at the state they left the economy in. They had underlying inflation running at a 16-year high of 3.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2007. They ignored 20 warnings by the RBA in the last three years. Australians had to endure 10 interest rate rises in a row under those opposite, giving this country the second highest interest rate of developed countries. A string of interest rate rises has had a devastating impact on the lives of Australians, but they did not care and their response was to keep spending. In fact, real spending under the last government grew at an average of four per cent a year over the last four years, reaching 5.2 per cent in their final budget year. They had $40 billion in new spending and not a single dollar in savings in their last budget. If we had matched the real spending growth of the Howard government, it would have cost taxpayers around $23 billion extra. The Liberals’ spending reached record highs, and we all know where that money went. It went on marginal seats, often without any due process. They were spending like drunken sailors. Then, to top things off, productivity growth over the last five years fell to its lowest in more than 16 years. This was the legacy of the Liberal Party—the legacy of those opposite—particularly the member for Higgins.

The Rudd Labor government have had to deal with global challenges. We have experienced an increase in global oil prices in recent times, and we have been economically responsible. This government, in our 2008 first budget, cut real spending from 5.2 per cent to 1.1 per cent and we delivered the $22 billion-strong surplus. For our part, we are focused on providing responsible economic management. We know there is much more to be done and there will be challenging times ahead as we continue to battle the economic turbulence. Today we saw some relief when the RBA cut interest rates by 0.25 per cent. This is the first time families have had a rate cut in seven years, and I certainly welcome it, as I am sure those families with mortgages in my electorate do. For an average mortgage holder, today’s cut will put more than $500 a year back into the family’s pockets.

We on this side of the House continue to act responsibly in this nation’s long-term interests. The Rudd Labor government is acting now for our long-term future. We are preparing Australia for a strong future. We are not wasting this government’s surplus; we are investing in the future and for the future needs of this great country. Labor is the traditional party of nation builders, but nation building requires economic management and a plan to deliver world-class infrastructure and to boost productivity. We do have the plans to do this. That is why we have put $41 billion into nation-building funds: $20 billion into the Building Australia Fund, $11 billion into education infrastructure and $10 billion into health infrastructure. We are serious about addressing bottlenecks, about improving our technology and about a $4.7 billion national broadband network so that we can get our exports to market and improve our technology so that we can compete. We are also addressing the years of neglect in schools with the education revolution. We are investing in trade training centres, in computers in schools and in universities to help address the skills shortage that has choked this nation for years.

This budget surplus confirms and builds upon Labor’s economic credentials. We know that people out there are doing it tough, which is why we included our $55 billion working families package and why we have put money back into the pockets of families. On top of this, we have provided $7.5 billion in additional payments and bonuses to pensioners—(Time expired)