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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given the Treasurer's floundering performance in selling the budget on 7.30 last night and in question time today, will the Prime Minister confirm her appointment of Ken Henry to her personal staff is an attempt to find an alternative, more credible economic figurehead than this lightweight Treasurer?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The House will come to order. The member for Aston is warned.

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

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: that was not even close to being in order.

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

The member for Melbourne Ports wants to add to this point of order?

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I want to ask a question.

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

The member for Melbourne Ports is being very presumptive. I ask members to listen to the whole response to the point of order. If the debate that was contained in the first part of the question was the only debate that was in the question, that would have been okay. My ruling is that the last two or three words of the question are out of order but the question stands up until that point. So the reference to a member of this place is ruled out of order but the question about an appointment remains.

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

To the statement or whatever it was that the member for Mackellar just came and spoke at the dispatch box about, can I say this: the Treasurer is doing a fantastic job selling a budget that is about jobs and opportunity for the nation.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Of course we are seeing this reaction by the Liberal Party, because they do not care about jobs, they do not care about a strong economy and they do not care about opportunity.

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat until the House comes to order. The member for Calare is warned. A question was asked, its order was disputed, I allowed part of the question and the Prime Minister is responding to that question. I would have thought, given that sequence of events, people would wish to listen to the Prime Minister's response. She should be heard in silence.

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was, of course, very conscious when I used the word 'jobs' that the opposition would jeer. They just do not care. I knew when I used the word 'opportunity' the opposition would jeer. They just do not care. And I knew when I used the words 'strong economy' the opposition would jeer, because they do not understand the importance of a strong economy to this nation's future. So that is exactly what I expected them to do, because in the modern age—and it does pain me to say it because it has not been true of the Liberal and National parties in the past—the only role that they have is to try and wreck, destroy and create fear. They have no policies or plans for the nation's future.

Let's just start with the budget and a strong economy. Nothing matters to working families more than keeping the economy strong. The transition our economy is in now requires bringing the budget back to surplus. The Treasurer, working with other members of the economic team, has taken the decisions to get that done. Meanwhile, over there on the opposition front bench, we have had no budget reply and no plan to return the budget to surplus, because they do not have the intellectual capacity or desire to do something in the nation's interest. This week we have had to watch the absolute shambles of the shadow Treasurer blaming his poor budget reply on the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Goldstein.

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

Mr Speaker, on a point of order in the light of the new paradigm and direct answers to questions. My question was about the Treasurer and his competence and nothing else.

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

I indicated that, whilst it was debate, I had allowed the argument that was the introduction to the question. As I have said before, that did open very wide the rule of direct relevance to the question. The Prime Minister has the call and she knows that she needs to relate her response directly to the question.

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

Thank you, very much, Mr Speaker. I am relating my response very directly to what the member for Mackellar asked. The member for Mackellar should note that in order to act as the leadership of this nation you have to be able to make the tough decisions to keep the economy strong. We have done that in the recent budget. The Treasurer did that, leading the economic team to deliver the budget back to surplus. If anybody in the opposition—anybody—has a plan to return the budget to surplus we have not seen it yet. In the greatest display of economic incompetence that this parliament has ever had to witness, we have seen no budget reply from any member of the opposition.

At the core of the budget are jobs and opportunity. We know that the opposition do not care about jobs. They would have got all the big decisions to support Australian jobs wrong. That is what the budget is about. And it is about opportunity. We know that the opposition do not care anything about opportunity. In government their track record on spreading opportunity was woeful and in opposition all they stand for is cuts to education, apprenticeships, schools and universities—you name it, they want to cut it.

We will keep pursuing this vision. I will do it; the Deputy Prime Minister will do it. Of course we will seek advice from those who have served the Australian nation well. I would have thought, if there were a modicum of interest in the nation's future from those opposite, they would be happy to see that someone of the capacity of Ken Henry was still available for public service in the interests of the nation. But cheap politics is all they know.

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

I call the very patient member for Melbourne Ports.