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

My question is to the Treasurer. What are the economic achievements of the government and what do they mean for future reform? How has this reform program been received and what is the government’s response?

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

I thank the member for Corangamite for this very important question. This government has a proud economic record. Over the past three years Australia has created 650,000 jobs. There is nothing that we are prouder of than the fact that 650,000 jobs have been created in this country over the last three years. During that period the rest of the developed world lost 30 million jobs. Unemployment in Australia is currently 5.4 per cent. It is almost twice that in most other developed economies and, almost alone amongst developed economies, Australia avoided a recession. Our net debt will peak at 6.4 per cent of GDP in 2011-12. In other major advanced economies it is closer to 90 per cent. And, of course, we are coming back to surplus in three years, three years early, while other developed economies are struggling to halve their deficits. Our financial institutions are in good shape. So in black and white this is the proud record of a Labor government in the face of a global financial crisis and a global recession. We are proud of the fact that breadwinners were kept in jobs and we are proud of the fact that small businesses right around this country were able to keep their doors open because we put in place stimulus which backed confidence in the community. So as a country we stand tall as a consequence of these actions—Australians working together; employers, employees and the government working together to produce this outstanding result for Australia.

But there is always more work to be done. That is why we have a big reform program: tax cuts for companies, tax assistance for small business, investment in infrastructure and particularly the big microeconomic reform that the Prime Minister was talking about before to propel us into more prosperity in the future by making our companies and our great regions more productive. But every step of the way on this journey we were opposed by those opposite. If they had had their way, Australia would be in recession. It would have gone into recession, unemployment would have been far higher and business closures would have been far higher. They opposed us at every point along the way. The member for Wentworth stood up and said that stimulus would never create a single job. The member for Wentworth opposed the bank guarantees which gave security to our country. And, of course, now we have the Leader of the Opposition opposing the NBN. Those opposite would rather see the government fail than see the country succeed. That is the lesson of the last three years. They are defined purely by what they oppose because they stand for nothing positive. And the final word on their lack of economic credibility goes to the former Treasurer, Peter Costello. This is what he has had to say about the current Leader of the Opposition:

Never one to be held back by the financial consequences of decisions—

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

Mr Speaker, on a point of order, I rise on the standing order 91: disorderly conduct. I simply say that, as the shadow communications minister has time and time again corrected the record after question time about the same lie being told by the Treasurer about the bank guarantee, how could it possibly be orderly for the Treasurer to completely refuse to accept that and repeat the same lie?

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

Order! What is happening on this occasion is consistent with what has happened over a number of parliaments. It is something that the House, through its Procedure Committee and standing orders, has not dealt with in the past. In fact, it leads to the situation where a member who feels aggrieved is forced to use the processes of the House to put in place a correction. The member for Sturt knows full well that this regrettably has happened throughout a number of parliaments. If he has an interest in this, he might take it up with the Procedure Committee to correct this anomaly. The Treasurer has the call. He will relate his answer directly to the question.

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

I was asked about economic reform. The former Treasurer Peter Costello had this to say about the Leader of the Opposition, ‘He tells me proudly that he learned all his economics at the feet of Bob Santamaria. I was horrified. He once claimed he was the political love child of John Howard and Bronwyn Bishop.’ (Time expired).