Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Human Services and Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law. How is Australia’s economic management being received in the global community and what stands in the way of coordinated global action to boost economic growth and support jobs?

Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wills for his question. Overnight, we have seen more evidence of the response of international economic organisations to Australia’s economic management over the last 18 months. The OECD has given further evidence that the stimulus measures put in place by the Rudd government have worked to cushion the impacts of the global recession. The OECD also points out that rising unemployment will continue to be a serious problem in economies, including Australia’s. To keep the unemployment rate steady we need to create around 20,000 jobs a month, which is a serious challenge in this international environment. This is a challenge that requires stimulus to remain in place—a fact established and supported internationally. Over the last fortnight we have heard Dominique Strauss-Kahn and senior officials from the White House and the G20 endorse the need to keep stimulus in place. Over the course of the last 48 hours we have heard the Prime Minister of Great Britain endorse the need to keep stimulus in place. In a speech to the Trades Union Congress in the United Kingdom he stressed ‘the need to implement fiscal stimulus packages in full without stopping them prematurely’. The British Prime Minister also laid out the need to keep stimulus in place by saying:

And we still have big choices to make. The choice of whether we continue to act to help families and businesses or whether we listen to the Tories and withdraw support from families and businesses, cut public services now, and refuse to invest in Britain’s future.

Anyone who would characterise that speech as anything other than a call to keep stimulus in place is engaging in false and misleading conduct.

I am asked about what impediments there are to coordinated action on fiscal stimulus. One of the things in place is those opposite who make things up in their argument against coordinated fiscal stimulus. This has been a shocker of a fortnight for the economic credibility of the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues. Last week we had the Robert doctrine, which was to say that Australia is the only nation in the world not withdrawing stimulus. Simply untrue. That was followed by the Hockey hypothesis, which was to say, ‘Maybe that’s not right but it’s all a left-wing conspiracy.’ Then we had the shadow Treasurer saying that keeping interest rates low was more important than supporting jobs. Today we have seen the Leader of the Opposition distance himself from his own shadow Treasurer on that particular item. Now the G20 conspiracy has been replaced by the phantom Gordon Brown speech from the shadow Treasurer. Not content with dreaming up conspiracies, the shadow Treasurer is now drafting phantom speeches.

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

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: yesterday I raised this in a claim to have been misrepresented and the experience of previous speakers where the Prime Minister misled the house about what I said, which I pointed out.

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

The member for North Sydney will resume his seat. There is no point of order.

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

Is he allowed to continue?

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

The member for North Sydney—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yeah, we’re sorry you’re so sloppy!

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

Order! The Deputy Prime Minister is not assisting. Yet again, a member is giving a version of what they believe to be precedence in this regard. While that precedent is what perhaps should have applied in the past, it does not. I can remember many members having to come in here on several occasions to make claims to have been misrepresented on the same thing. Until this is addressed by the House, that will continue to be the case, regrettable as it may be.

Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Next we will have the shadow Treasurer quoting a speech from Al Gore saying that climate change is not real or we might have him quoting that famous speech from Mahatma Gandhi saying that peaceful protest is not all it is cracked up to be! Given the OECD’s endorsement of this government’s policies, I am surprised that he has not alleged that OECD stands for the organisation of eccentric communist dictators. That is what you would expect from the shadow Treasurer.

The Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer have been wandering around like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, trying to find evidence to support their fantasies that the stimulus is not working and should be withdrawn. But in political discourse in Australia you just cannot make things up; you have to have some evidence. The shadow Treasurer, as he said, stood twice yesterday in the House to take a personal explanation. He should come back into the House today and take another one and explain why he has not yet come clean about misleading the Australian people and misleading the House about the Prime Minister of Britain. His attempt to mitigate this deception is based around where the quotation marks were placed in his remarks. That is his defence—the old ‘quotation marks’ defence. What he ignores is the fact that the very fibre of the Prime Minister of Great Britain’s speech was to defend economic stimulus. At least when the former shadow Treasurer plagiarised a speech she got the quotes right. This one cannot even get that.

The shadow Treasurer should come back into the chamber this afternoon after question time and take another personal explanation. He should explain whether he was being dishonest or just plain sloppy.

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.