Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline for the House the reasons the luxury car tax should be passed in the Senate as part of a responsible approach to economic management?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, because at a time of global economic uncertainty it is important that we have a strong budget surplus. This is not understood by the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition said at his first press conference that he was going to provide new economic leadership. What does that amount to? It amounts to the same old Liberal Party economic leadership—vandalising the surplus in the Senate, economic irresponsibility. I am pleased to tell the House that so far we have seen some responsibility from the minor parties in the Senate. We have seen a lot more economic responsibility from those minor parties—from the Greens, from the Independent, Senator Xenophon, and from Family First—than we have seen from the Liberal Party because they do understand the importance of a budget surplus. They understand the importance of having a strong surplus at a time of global uncertainty and they also understand the importance of that in terms of giving the Reserve Bank room to move when it comes to interest rates.

What do we get from the other side? The Leader of the Opposition had his first press conference. It went for 20 minutes, and he spent $20 billion. This is the same spendathon that the member for Higgins introduced the country to in the previous few years. There is absolutely no difference between the member for Wentworth, the previous Leader of the Opposition or the member for Higgins. They are all old-style, big-spend liberals who want interest rates higher for longer. We on this side of the House stand for responsible economic management. Those on that side are utterly irresponsible.