Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to the fact that Australia’s sovereign debt will be around $475 billion or over $21,000 of government debt for every man, every woman and every child in Australia. I also refer the Treasurer to the fact that the Senate, against government wishes, has agreed to coalition amendments to set up a public register of government borrowings that delivers transparency and accountability on Labor’s record debt. Treasurer, when will the register be operating so that every Australian will know exactly who owns our future?

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

I thank the shadow Treasurer for his question. This is part of his debt scare campaign that he has been attempting to mount in this House day in day out. Of course he cannot ever quite get all his figures right or facts right. That does not seem to matter at all, because they are not interested in an alternative economic policy; they are just interested in a scare campaign. They are not interested in supporting jobs; they are just interested in another scare campaign, which is where the question comes from today.

I have had several questions about this from the shadow Treasurer over recent weeks. Basically, he has asked me what percentage of our bonds on issue is owned by people overseas. And the answer is: roughly two-thirds. That has not changed from the time of the former government. It was roughly two-thirds then and it is roughly two-thirds now.

There were amendments attempted to be moved in this House last night. They could not get them right—they stuffed that up—and they had to go up and move them in the Senate today. And of course those amendments did go through the Senate today. They are amendments seeking greater detail as to what or who may be the individual investors. At the moment the data that is provided by the Bureau of Statistics. It does not give the sort of detail that the member opposite is seeking so what we have said we will do reasonably is look at whether we can get, in an accurate fashion, more data. I made the offer to him in the House last night that we would sit down with our advisers, with the Treasury, and through the ABS, and attempt to do that. I made that clear, Mr Speaker.

But, of course, it is not about that. What it is really about is this debt scare campaign. Australia has low levels of net debt compared to every other economy in the world—very low compared to every other major advanced economy. I think it pays to go through them. If we take the period to 2014 and go through levels of net debt around the world, they are: United Kingdom, 83 percent; United States, 83 percent. Major advanced—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order that goes to relevance. I asked the Treasurer: when is he setting up the register that discloses who owns our debt?

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

The Treasurer is responding to the question.

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

I will comply with the law of the land to the maximum extent that I possibly can. That is what I have said to—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Mr Speaker, we really should have a look at how serious or childish those opposite are. Last night, with no warning, they turned up in the House with a couple of amendments that were inaccurate and had to be redrafted. They did not proceed with the amendments last night. They took them up into the Senate in a different form—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Hockey interjecting

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

Yes, Sloppy Joe—more ‘sloppynomics’ from Joe. They took them up in the Senate and they passed them with the help of the minor parties in the Senate today. Of course, we will comply to the maximum extent that we possibly can. But it is not about compliance. What it is about here is a debt scare campaign to try to get them off the hook for their failure to support economic stimulus, which is supporting jobs in this economy, and their embarrassment at the national account result two weeks ago. They have opposed vital economic stimulus which is supporting jobs in our economy, and all through this there is no alternative economic policy.

The shadow Treasurer was on Sky News the other day. He was asked on Sky News how the coalition would get a lower deficit. This is the answer—

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

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The Treasurer was asked a specific question. He has answered it as best he can. We are now going around the world in 80 days—

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

The member for Sturt will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business might like to review the question, which had a preamble that made references to a number of things. It has been the practice and precedent of this place that they can also be responded to in making the answer relevant.

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

Certainly, Mr Speaker, because I was asked a question about debt. The shadow Treasurer on Sky News was asked about how he would go about achieving a lower deficit which contributes to debt. So I do believe that my answer is directly relevant to the question that I have received from the shadow Treasurer. This is what he said on Sky News when he was asked by David Speers about how the coalition would have a lower deficit. He said this:

There are always going to be other decisions, David, that we would have taken that would have not delivered the same budget deficit.

He then goes on to say this:

We said it was vitally important that you stimulate small business, and the way to do that, we said, was to change the superannuation guarantee arrangements.

Those changes to the superannuation guarantee arrangements that they had mentioned some time ago come at a cost of $5 billion. So his answer on Sky News as to how he would go about getting a lower deficit was to add to the deficit. That is just more ‘sloppynomics’ from Sloppy Joe to camouflage the fact that they need to have a deficit and debt scare campaign because they have no positive alternative policy for Australia.