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

My question is to the Treasurer. What role has business played in the success of our economy during the global recession and why is it important that government, business and the community work together to implement carefully considered policies during the recovery?

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

I thank the member for Wills for his question, because it is very important that government, business and the community work together—work together to make sure that stimulus produces jobs and work together to make sure that our recovery is successful and continues to support employment. Today I met with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is a group that is not usually associated with the Labor Party. It is strongly independent, but it is strongly supportive of stimulus—not just the stimulus that is in the system now but the future pipeline of activity that is so important to future confidence and the confidence of employers to continue to employ. So, generally, most of the major employer organisations in our community are supportive of stimulus, and they are supportive of the pipeline of activity that is in place now. The only group in the community that is not supportive of that is, of course, the Liberal and National parties in this House and in the Senate. But it is important, because confidence and leadership are required if we are going to maximise the possibilities that arise from the economic recovery.

As we frame policies to go forward, there are two ways of going about it. We can do it in a considered and collective way or we can do it in a reckless, erratic way, which is the way in which the opposition is now going about framing public policy. We have a Leader of the Opposition who asks for forgiveness after he makes a decision rather than seeking permission before he makes a decision. Of course, nothing is more destructive of confidence, particularly when it comes to investment, than that sort of approach. We have a shadow Treasurer over there who says this ‘big new tax’ is, in reality, a windfall gain. We have the finance minister who described this big new tax as a ‘small rise’. Those opposite really do live in an alternative economic universe. This is what the Productivity Commission had to say about paid parental leave: ‘the actual burden of the levy will eventually fall on employees’ and will possibly make ‘some firms unviable’.

That is what the Productivity Commission said. Here is what the other PC—Peter Costello—said about their big new tax. He said it ‘should have set alarm bells ringing’—ringing in the ears of the Leader of the Opposition and the worst opposition frontbench team that we have seen in the history of this parliament. He went on to say:

… that alarm should have sounded like an air raid siren …

That former Treasurer—the longest-serving Treasurer in the history of this country—has seen that they have so destroyed the economic credibility of the Liberal Party that he is prepared to bag them in public.

But the Leader of the Opposition has done something that nobody else has succeeded in doing. The Leader of the Opposition is a miracle worker. He has united Peter Costello and Paul Keating. Nobody has ever succeeded in doing that before. They both think this is the dumbest idea they have ever seen. It is no mean feat for the Leader of the Opposition to have done that. Is it any wonder the business community is so terrified about the prospect of a Liberal Party coming to government? Those opposite have absolutely no idea about what is required to support investment and jobs in the Australian community. The business community is terrified about the lack of certainty and so too are the two longest-serving treasurers in our history.