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

On indulgence: today the government, together with other members of the parliament concerned about the national interest, joined together to ensure Australia will not sit back and wait and see what happens with the global economic recession. Today the government and other members of the parliament concerned about the national interest joined together to fight the global economic recession.

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

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This is not the kind of speech which should be made on indulgence.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

Order! Those on my right are not assisting.

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

Mr Speaker, on the point of order moved by the former Leader of the House, it was felt in consultation that took place with the opposition that it was appropriate that there be a report back to the House of Representatives about the nation building and jobs package. It is appropriate that this House be treated with respect, hence you actually agreed with this process and agreed that it would be appropriate that the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition be given equal time to report to this House.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The member for Banks and the member for Flinders will get their early flights, if they wish. On the point of order, my attitude in giving indulgence was on the basis that it suited the convenience of the House.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Regrettably for those who interject upon me, which is pretty far outside the standing orders, I have to be the judge of that. On the basis that it has been agreed that I will be able to give indulgence to the Leader of the Opposition of some similar magnitude and therefore of some similar discussion, that will have to be the risk that the chair takes in trying to keep order. But it is on that basis that I am proceeding.

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

Today the government and other members of the parliament concerned about the national interest joined together to ensure that Australia will not sit back and wait and see what happens with the global economic recession. Today the government an other members of the parliament concerned about the national interest joined together to fight the global economic recession. Today the government and other members of parliament put their differences aside to act strongly and decisively in the national interest to support jobs, not stand idly by while the global economic recession wreaks havoc; to support families, not leave them exposed to the full force of the global economic recession; to support small business, not turn a blind eye to their pain; to drive the biggest school modernisation plan in Australia’s history, not pretend that those schools do not need help; and to build social housing for our poorest neighbours, not leave them to fend for themselves. In all these things, the government have acted to support jobs while others have argued we should do nothing to support jobs.

The most irresponsible thing to do today, with the worst global economic recession since the 1930s staring us in the face, would be to do nothing and to play politics—to play politics at a time when our nation needs us to rise above politics; to play politics at a time when we are required to put our nation first and our own political interests last. But, with the responsible actions of the minor parties and the Independents both in the House and in the Senate, we have avoided that in this parliament today. I thank them for their cooperation.

Why is the government committed to the passage of this nation-building plan? Australia cannot resist the international economic forces, and we cannot defy the effects of the downturn in our own region. But, through decisive government action, we can reduce the impact of the global recession on Australian families, jobs and small businesses. Treasury estimates that initiatives in the Nation Building and Jobs Plan will provide a boost to economic growth of around half a percentage point of GDP in 2008-09 and around three-quarters to one per cent of GDP in 2009-10. Treasury also estimates that today’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan will support up to 90,000 jobs in each of 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Without parliament’s support for this plan, growth would be slower and unemployment would be higher. Therefore, the government’s nation-building plan aims to do two things: first, to support economic stimulus in the short term to do everything possible to support growth and jobs now; and, second, to do so wherever possible by investing in school infrastructure, modernising our schools and providing energy-efficient housing and the other infrastructure Australia needs for the 21st century. That is the government strategy.

The government’s nation-building plan delivers for the nation and it delivers for local communities. The $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution plan provides our kids with 21st century schools if they are stuck in cramped, decaying classrooms designed for a generation of Australian children that left school many years ago. I would ask honourable members here assembled to listen to what local schools are saying about the plan, which the government has voted for and which the Liberal and National parties have voted against. The Principal of Merri Creek Primary School says:

We need $1.5 million, plus maintenance … We currently get $9000 for maintenance for the whole school for the whole year.

The Principal of Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School writes:

That gets a big tick from me as it’s an area where our school always has trouble finding the funding to recarpet and repaint.

Similar messages are emerging from the 7½ thousand primary schools right across Australia, in parts of our country represented by members on this side of the House and parts of the country represented by members on that side of the House. The difference, however, is this: we on this side of the House, together with the Independents, have voted in support of the biggest school modernisation plan in Australia’s history, while the Liberals and the Nationals have voted against it.

In passing this bill, the parliament is also helping to tackle the crisis in affordable housing. Here is what some people have said about this part of the program. I refer here to comments from Mr Gary Mallard, a public housing tenant in Bega:

The Federal Government’s $6 billion into social and public housing is wonderful news. It means that more people will be able to enjoy the security of tenure that meant so much to my family, especially as our children were growing up.

Councillor Frank O’Connor, the mayor of Port Phillip, writes:

It’s the best news since indoor plumbing was invented. With affordable housing at an all-time low in the City of Port Phillip and a recession hurtling towards us, the Federal Government’s commitment is just what’s needed.

Then there is the Defence housing element and what will be delivered through the government’s plan on this. I will be particularly interested to see how the member for Herbert explains this to the good people of Townsville. This is from the wife of a member of the Australian Defence Force based in Darwin:

The thought of new Defence houses in Darwin is fabulous. The current houses are old and tired. And new houses would make Darwin a much more attractive posting. It would definitely make Darwin more appealing to people. At the moment the rental market is impossible. Impossibly expensive and impossible to get into; there’s nothing available. To have new houses where people , families, don’t have to worry about where they are going to live when they get posted would be absolutely amazing.

That was from a wife of a member of the Australian Defence Force.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Sidebottom interjecting

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

The member for Braddon will get a thorn if he is not very careful. I advise the House that I have a booking on a seven o’ clock plane, so I have got plenty of time.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I refer you to pages 484 and 485 of the House of Representatives Practice, dealing with indulgence. Set out on those pages is the long list of things for which indulgence is granted and the fact that the right to grant that indulgence is exclusively yours to give—not the House’s right, but yours. It also prescribes the areas where precedents have been set for the granting of indulgence—for instance:

… the … Leader of the Opposition to congratulate athletes representing Australia—

or:

… to ask a question of the Speaker or raise a matter for the Speaker’s consideration—

or:

… the Prime Minister to answer a question—

or:

… A Minister to correct or add to an earlier answer—

These are all very procedural matters and I put it to you, Mr Speaker, that this is not a speech on indulgence. This is a speech of a highly political character which should be dealt with in an ordinary matter of business. It is quite improper for the Prime Minister to give us this diatribe by way of indulgence.

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

I have noted the point of order and I have given the indulgence. I indicated earlier that I understand I have taken a great risk, but I say to the House that I do not see this in any way as a precedent—not in any way. I embarked upon this procedure with an understanding that some people in the chamber knew what was happening. I think that members ought to acknowledge that sometimes people are out of loops.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! Some of the members who are laughing loudest should realise that probably they were out of this loop as well. I admit that I was. The indulgence has been granted. As I have said, I understand that, with the granting of indulgence to the Prime Minister, subsequently I will grant indulgence to the Leader of the Opposition and it will be for subject matter of a similar standard. The Leader of the Opposition should not take that comment too directly.

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

Then there is the issue of the installation of ceiling insulation. Peter Ruz of Fletcher Insulation has said:

Our own company … had to lay off a shift in one of our plants just before Christmas. We’ll be putting that shift back on, and, you know, there are lots of jobs in manufacturing as well.

Mr Ray Thompson from Bradford Insulation said that their new Brisbane plant would move to 24/7 production. He said:

We will start employing people immediately …

I would like to repeat for the benefit of honourable members the observations last night of the member for Lyne concerning his own area. I will quote what the honourable member said:

… I ran into an old friend on Saturday morning who had just been to the insulation shop. He and his wife had been wanting to get their home insulated for some time. The message that has come through from this place had rekindled the desire. They were tyre-kicking in the insulation shop and reported back to me quite excitedly that the phones were running off the hook and that the poor guy running the business was in a massive fluster. He said to my friend, ‘I’m just going to have to employ more people.’ I would hope that everyone in this chamber, regardless of positions over the last two weeks, would support that message from that business.

I thank the member for Lyne for his contribution to the debate last night.

The government’s nation-building plan also deals with the challenges faced by small business, and here I cite Mr Glenn Elim of Animal World Pet Motel in Cornubia in Queensland. Because of the initiatives the government has announced, most particularly the investment tax break, he is looking to make further investments in business that will see even stronger growth as the economy recovers. Mr Elim says that the investments that were planned for the future are being brought forward because of the government’s package.

On the question of not just small business but community infrastructure as well, I would draw honourable members’ attention to the desperate need for the refreshing and upgrading of infrastructure of local communities around Australia. With the passing of this bill the government is now bringing forward and boosting capital expenditure in regional areas to improve safety for motorists and passengers around the country. I have here a comment from the Mayor of North Sydney Council, Councillor McCaffery, who has stated, ‘Not only will it provide safer communities but it should help to maintain local jobs.’ The Mayor of Fraser Coast Regional Council has also made additional remarks.

The question of the tax bonuses has attracted considerable comment in the debate in this chamber, and also contributions from individual members of the public who are doing it tough in the current economic circumstances and are looking for a helping hand from government to assist them through the impact of this crisis.

These are the elements of the government’s nation-building plan. These are the elements which have attracted widespread support from across the Australian community—members of the community in individual towns and centres represented by those opposite, by government members and by Independent members as well.

Let us consider also why this bill has been passed. It has been passed with the support of every single member of this House and the Senate except for members of the Liberal Party and the National Party. Every government member of parliament has supported this nation-building plan. Every minor party senator has supported this nation-building plan. Every Independent member of this House has supported this nation-building plan. Every Independent senator has supported this nation-building plan. Everybody in this parliament has got behind this nation-building plan except for members of the Liberal Party and the National Party.

I would like to thank each of those members who have supported this bill in the House and in the Senate. I would like to thank government members for their support and their statements explaining the reasons for that support. I would especially like to thank the Independent members who spoke in the House last night with clarity, with honesty and with eloquence. I would like to thank the member for Lyne, the member for New England and the member for Kennedy—all three members knowing what it is like to stand up for their local communities and to stand up for the Australian national interest. Nobody listening to the contributions last night from the Independent senators could doubt that they made their decisions because they concluded that it was in the interests of the people they represent in this place and, from the Independent members as well, the communities of the mid-North Coast of New South Wales, the communities of New England and those of North Queensland. I express my appreciation to Senator Brown in the Senate, who took a mature and cooperative approach to this legislation—unlike the Liberals, who did not. The Independent members did not think that this legislation was perfect but they were prepared to work together to pass it. I would also like to thank Senator Fielding. We understand his genuine concern for the unemployed and for his home state of Victoria. I would also like to thank Senator Xenophon. We understand his passionate concern for the Murray-Darling. The government shares his concern. The Murray-Darling is the lifeblood of so many inland communities in the south of this great continent. We will continue to work with him in the future on this great national challenge. The government understands the urgency of the economic challenges that Australia faces. The Liberal Party does not, because, as supporters of extreme capitalism, not only do they refuse to accept any responsibility—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. When we came to an agreement with the government, it was on the basis that the Prime Minister would make a short statement to parliament, there would be a response from the Leader of the Opposition, and then the House would adjourn. We now find that the government has held back the House of Representatives to simply give the Prime Minister a platform to play politics from. Mr Speaker, this is very testing for the parliament—on the indulgence of the parliament, the Prime Minister is simply going on an ideological rant, or else he is simply tabling a whole lot of constituent emails.

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

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. What is actually happening—not the circumstances within which it is happening—is exceptional, and from the point of view of this occupant of the chair this procedure will not be used again.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! Having said that, I think it would suit the convenience of the House if we went through this quietly. The Prime Minister has the call. I would suggest that if the Prime Minister could wind his remarks up, it would also suit the convenience of the House.

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

Mr Speaker, the government—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! But he cannot wind them up if there are continual interjections.

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

The government understands the urgency of the economic challenge that we face. The International Monetary Fund understands the challenge that we face. The Reserve Bank, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia and the Business Council of Australia understand the challenge we face. The challenges we face are understood by the Independent members of this place and the minor parties. The only parties who do not understand the economic challenges we face are the Liberal and National parties.

Let us be absolutely clear about what is at stake here. We have embarked upon a course of action and a strategy to see Australia through this national economic crisis, and we are determined to do so.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is outrageous, Mr Speaker.

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

What the Liberal Party has done is to seek to vote down the biggest investment that this country has seen in our schools.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is defying your ruling.

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

Order! The member for Dickson is not assisting.

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

I noticed most recently the Manager of Opposition Business on his feet contesting this fact. When the Manager of Opposition Business said today, in relation to school investment, ‘Well, let me tell you: we wouldn’t be spending $14 billion dollars—

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

Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, is this truly appropriate for an indulgence from the Prime Minister, after the House of Representatives has been held back for hours after the Senate has completed its business? Is this truly the appropriate way to treat the parliament?

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

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. There is no point of order. The indulgence is for the chair to give.

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I refer explicitly to the member for North Sydney, who has just intervened, because today he said: ‘Well, let me tell you, we wouldn’t be spending $14 billion on school halls’. He goes on to say: ‘That is just ridiculous’. This government has a different view of the priority attached to education.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Dutton interjecting

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

Order! The member for Dickson might think he is assisting, but he is not.

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

The other important contribution to this debate and the matters that have just been returned from the Senate is as follows. When questioned this morning about the opposition’s posture on the current stimulus proposal which is before the parliament, the Manager of Opposition Business was asked, ‘Is there any prospect of a change to the opposition’s position on the stimulus package?’, and what was the answer from the Manager of Opposition Business? ‘Well, no, there isn’t.’ In other words, the predisposition to negotiate, as they stated last night, was clearly underlined again in the statement of unequivocal rejection by the Liberal Party this morning.

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

Order! The member for Dickson on a point of order. He will have to search for a point of order, though.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am appealing to your spirit of indulgence, Mr Speaker. About six minutes ago you gave the Prime Minister a direction to wind it up. He is defying—

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

Order! The member for Dickson will resume his seat.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Dutton interjecting

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

The member for Dickson will resume his seat!

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This government will continue to act in the national interest. This government will continue to govern in the national interest—for a generation of kids in our schools, who in years to come will have access to 21st century libraries, multipurpose halls and other facilities; for struggling families and older people, who will have access to affordable social housing; for families, who will be able to cut their electricity bills with ceiling insulation; for regional communities around Australia, who will benefit from new community facilities; for small businesses, who will have—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Haase interjecting

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

Mr Abbott interjecting

Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mrs Hull interjecting

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

Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The members for Sturt, Kalgoorlie, Warringah—and the member for Riverina, who is just leaving, or is somewhere—are warned!

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

This government will continue to act for regional communities around Australia, who will benefit from new community facilities; for small businesses, who will have the incentive to invest and to build their businesses; and for people who are doing it tough all around Australia—singles, families, people on low incomes—who will benefit from this package; and for the 90,000 jobs that this package will support.

This Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 [No. 2] and related bills are in the interest of all those Australians. This Nation Building and Jobs Plan is in the nation’s interest. And today, the dividing line between us in this parliament is clear and has been drawn—between those who will stand up for the nation and its long-term interests and those who have stood up only for themselves.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence, Mr Speaker. There are two key issues that we must confront today. They are: jobs and debt. How many jobs will this package create? How much debt will it incur? We know how much debt it will incur: $200 billion, thrown onto the shoulders of our children for them to pay off. If we were to run $20-billion-a-year surpluses, it would take a decade to pay off that debt. That is the scale of this unprecedented debt that the Prime Minister is throwing—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the Treasurer?

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

The Treasurer will resume his seat. The member for Dickson is really getting to the limit. I warn him!

Opposition Member:

Opposition member—What about the member for Shortland?

Opposition Member:

Opposition member—She’s standing in front of the camera.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

That is not very smart. The member for Shortland will take her place. If the House has not got the indication that the House should perhaps think about the procedure that we have carried out today, I am sorry. But I do not find it clever at all for retaliatory actions to be taken on the basis that you do not think other things should have happened. I do not think that that is the way that we should behave in the House. I think that this has been a difficult day, but I can assure you that this occupant of the chair has learned a very big lesson from this. I call the Leader of the Opposition.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. This package is about jobs and it is about debt. We know how much debt it will throw onto the shoulders of our children: $200 billion. With surpluses of $20 billion a year, which would be an outstanding surplus, it would take a decade to repay. We know the demographic challenges our country faces. We know we are an ageing population. We know there will be greater claims on government in the years ahead. And that is why when we were in government we paid off all of Labor’s debt. We took debt off the shoulders of our children and their children. We relieved them of the burden of debts and obligations we had incurred, and now we are succeeded by a government that are throwing unprecedented debt onto their shoulders.

And for what are they throwing that debt onto our children’s shoulders? Jobs, they say. They have promised, from this package and their $10 billion cash splash in December, 165,000 jobs—75,000 jobs from December and 90,000 jobs from the $42 billion package. There is no evidence that one job was created by the cash splash in December. The greatest minds in the Commonwealth Treasury came to the Senate committee and could not produce any evidence that one job was created, let alone 75,000. And now we have the promise of 90,000 jobs from $42 billion. As the Leader of the Nationals said last night, that is $460,000 a job. Is that great value for money? Is that the sort of value that we should be mortgaging our children’s future to achieve? Is that effective government spending?

The Prime Minister has thrown all of the conventional rules of economics and financial management out the window. The economic conservative has become unhinged from any principles of common sense or economic prudence. He stood here today and boasted proudly that, by spending four per cent of GDP, $42 billion, we will get an increase of GDP of half a per cent this year and between three-quarters of a per cent and one per cent next year, according to the Treasury. So, for four per cent of GDP, $42 billion, the taxpayers of Australia will get 1¼ to 1½ per cent of GDP. What a pathetic return. What a pathetic, incompetent return. ABN AMRO were right in saying that, far from delivering a bang for the taxpayers’ buck, the government have delivered nothing better than a dull thud.

I do not know what is more troubling: the extraordinary falsehoods that the Prime Minister has delivered us today and every day on this topic or the fact that he may just believe them to be true. Is he disingenuous or is he deluded? It is hard to say. He has claimed that the opposition has said that nothing should be done. Yet everybody in Australia, except for the Prime Minister, knows that the government proposed a spending package of $42 billion and we said it would be more prudent and more effective to have a differently constituted package of between $15 billion and $20 billion. He insults the intelligence of every Australian by saying that we are in favour of doing nothing. We are in favour of action, but we are in favour of effective action.

The reality is that as of today the Labor debt train has left the station for destination unknown, except for this: our children and their children will pay for all of it. The Prime Minister is plunging our nation into enormous and unprecedented debt. Billions of dollars of that debt will be incurred from measures that will have no enduring economic effect. It is widely accepted that the $10 billion cash splash in December had no impact on jobs. There is no evidence that it had any impact on jobs. The Prime Minister, who was no doubt trying to achieve some sort of collective retail therapy, has been delighted that, after spending $10 billion of our children’s money, retail sales increased in December by $700 million.

The spending package that the Prime Minister has secured passage of today is far bigger as a percentage of our GDP than those spending packages in comparable countries—notwithstanding that those comparable countries, such as the United States, European countries and Japan, have economic conditions far worse than our own. In other words, we with the strongest economy have a government that is so panicked it is spending more money than governments with weak and struggling economies.

Australians need to know that this panicked government has made another panicked move, just like it panicked when it undertook an unlimited bank deposit guarantee, the damage of which—

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

Mr Swan interjecting

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear the Treasurer laughing. He obviously thinks it is funny that a quarter of a million Australians have had their savings frozen thanks to his incompetence. No doubt he thought it was funny too when he made the jolly quip when people complained they could not access their savings that they should line up at Centrelink. That is the government of compassion!

The Prime Minister’s answer is simply to spend, spend, spend—plunging us deeper and deeper into debt. But the spending is not well targeted. It will not create jobs. We proposed measures which are better designed to create jobs which will deliver real benefits. Consider the Prime Minister’s remarks today about insulation. He told a story about a shop that sells insulation and said that the phones were ringing off the hook and that people were just lining up to get access to the free money from the government to put insulation in their homes after July. He is so proud of that. He is really delighted. But I wonder what he says to the engineering shop next door whose phone is not ringing off the hook. I wonder what he says to the plumbing store next door whose phone is not ringing, or the company that does interior design. What we have proposed are measures that will benefit every single business and small business in Australia and that will lower the cost of employing Australians for every single small business.

One of the problems with the government’s approach is that it is picking one industry here, another industry there and hoping that by providing a super amount, a super stimulation, they will do well. They may do well. They may well be very busy, but what about the rest of the economy? That is a fundamental failure to understand that government policies should aim to promote productivity and efficiency across the whole economy. We should aim as far as we can to benefit every business, every taxpayer and every industry, because that is what we Liberals believe is the role of government—that is, to enable Australians to do their best. That is the big difference. We believe government is there to enable Australians to do their best and to make their investments and their decisions and to create the prosperity that this nation depends on.

The Prime Minister believes his job is to decide that there will be one industry that will get his blessing, that will get a huge amount of money and whose phones will ring off the wall. Today that industry is going to be insulation. What will be the lucky industry next week? Who knows? We are committed to measures that will promote employment across the economy. But above all, we are committed to jobs. We are committed to measures that will promote employment.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those on the government benches are laughing; I hope Australians can hear them laugh. They are laughing about jobs. They spent $10 billion of our children’s future, they mortgaged our children’s future, to the tune of $10 billion in December and did not create a single job. Where are the 75,000 jobs? Where is the one job? Where are seven jobs? There is no evidence that any of these jobs have been created.

We knew that the position we have taken is not popular. We have known from the outset that taking a stand for our children’s future, taking a stand against wasteful government spending, excessive debt and running up $200 billion of debt on our children’s credit card would not be popular—but we know that it is right. We know that it must be done, because Australians today and tomorrow, and perhaps more tomorrow than today, will need to know that there were parties in this parliament that were focused on the future of this nation and determined that when our children are seeking to buy their first home or build their businesses they will not be crushed by high taxes to pay off the debt that this reckless government has incurred today.

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

I wish to indicate to the House that the process today could have been done differently. It could have been done by a motion. It was determined in a meeting between me, the Leader of the Opposition and the Manager of Opposition Business that it would suit the House if this process ensued because it would be timely.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You misled them.

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

Well, you were in the meeting as well; I did not verbal you.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

What a rabble!

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

Order!

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

They are a rabble on economic policy and they have been a rabble in this House, and I move:

That the House do now adjourn.

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

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat; there is a question before the chair. I will not go into the detail of who said what to whom because, as I have clearly indicated, for different reasons I was not in any loop, but I understand that the House may have learnt a lesson from this.

Opposition Member:

An opposition member—Don’t trust Albo!

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Don’t trust Liberals!

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

I say to the member for Lyons that I did indicate from the outset that what I knew about the chair was that it would be me against the rest. Perhaps there is an element of that here. The question before the chair is that the House do now adjourn.

Question agreed to.