Peter Slipper (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable member for North Sydney proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The urgent need for the Government to restore confidence in their management of the Australian economy.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

Mr Speaker, this Prime Minister can only rebuild economic confidence in this government by dumping the Treasurer in the upcoming reshuffle. The last dumped Labor Treasurer, John Kerin, was widely regarded as a decent man but an incompetent Treasurer. In stark contrast, this Treasurer's incompetence is matched by his behaviour and his words. His continuation in this portfolio is a mistake and will continue to undermine business and consumer confidence at a crucial moment in time.

To be Treasurer, one must believe in economic values that grow the economy and deliver hope, reward and opportunity for everyday Australians. We need a Treasurer who displays confidence and clarity in the great public debates, we need a Treasurer who is across his brief and we need a Treasurer with a steely determination to advocate policies that may be unpopular but ultimately are right. We should have known that this Treasurer was not up to the job when in the immediate wake of the 2007 budget he cowered in his office rather than prosecute an economic argument against his predecessor. If he could not do it in opposition, it is no wonder his colleagues lament the straw man's performance in government. On coming to office in 2007 the Treasurer desperately searched for a critical narrative against his opponents.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs ) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The member for North Sydney should be relevant to the MPI. This is about confidence in the Australian economy and he has not mentioned it once.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Home Affairs will resume his seat. The member for North Sydney has the call.

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

The Treasurer could not argue the toss on fiscal policy in 2007, nor unemployment, nor corporate governance, nor prudential supervision. He could not argue the toss—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But the member for North Sydney, like everybody else in the chamber, will be aware of standing order 90. Occasionally people should reflect upon that.

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

The Treasurer could not argue the toss on productivity, national savings or tax reform. The coalition's proud legacy had intimidated this Treasurer. He was a Labor Party state secretary desperately searching for a critical word or a weak indicator. After declaring 'Kevin Rudd and federal Labor understand the pressures on working families', the Treasurer thought he had found the river of gold when he declared war on inflation and added that 'the inflation genie is out of the bottle'. Not only did this declaration of war reveal his failure to grasp the impact of the already unfolding liquidity crisis in Europe and the United States but also the government began introducing policies that made inflation worse. New taxes on alcopops and motor vehicles increased everyday prices and added to inflation. The actions of the Treasurer left analysts and economists confused. Moreover, the public was left bewildered when the Treasurer was asked the inflation rate in a MYEFO press conference and for an agonising two minutes searched for the answer. After declaring war on inflation, he could not tell you what the enemy looked like.

On top of this, the Treasurer was responsible for major policy backflips like Fuelwatch, GROCERYchoice and the on-again off-again on-again changes to employee share schemes. This further undermined public confidence in this Treasurer. Last week the Treasurer lambasted the member for Griffith's decision-making as 'dysfunctional' and yet it was the Treasurer who was hand in glove, side by side, with the member for Griffith as they rolled out the response to the global financial crisis. At first there was a collective denial that Australia would be hit. In fact, I was accused in this place in 2008 of talking down the Australian economy when I warned of the impending crisis. But then the penny dropped and the Treasurer began warning of impending devastation. The government went into crisis management but a key player, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, was not even in the room. The Treasurer and the member for Griffith were as one in the cabinet room with the Secretary of the Treasury. As partners they made a series of mistakes. For example, the government has had two different versions of government guarantees on retail deposits, which has added to confusion and panic amongst depositors in banks. It left investors in cash management trusts and investment vehicles bewildered and lost. Dysfunctional was the Treasurer's flawed Ruddbank, which could be used, according to the Treasurer, to fund projects like the $1 billion 79-storey Vision Tower in Brisbane. Thankfully for taxpayers the Vision Tower went into liquidation two months later without taxpayer contributions and Ruddbank went into the policy coffin.

With the second stimulus, which the coalition warned was flawed, erratic and wasteful, as partners the Treasurer and the member for Griffith rolled out a pink batts scheme that led to four deaths and wasted $2.4 billion, a school hall program that blew out to cost $16.2 billion and involved the worst waste of money since the Whitlam government, and a program that sent $900 cheques to 16,000 dead people and 27,000 people living overseas to stimulate the Australian economy. Dysfunctional be thy name. The waste continues today, with set-top boxes estimated to cost $350 a home but with Senator Conroy now admitting that the boxes could cost up to $1,528 each in rural areas. Gerry Harvey says he can do it for $168.

As if enough damage had not been done, we now have the emergence of the true narrative on tax reform. It was the Treasurer who commissioned the Henry tax review that cost $10 million. It was the Treasurer who adopted only a handful of the 138 recommendations. It was the Treasurer who ordered a further tax review, followed by a delayed tax summit, followed by a further tax review, followed by more indecision, false hopes, obfuscation and delays. When it comes to the mining tax, the member for Griffith and the Minister for Resources and Energy have dumped the dead cat on the table. The member for Griffith told the Weekend Australian just last Saturday:

We had reservations about embarking on something so complex but Wayne's view was that without it, his credentials as a reforming treasurer would be shot to pieces.

So the Treasurer was not motivated by a good policy or the budget deficit or the best terms of trade in 100 years—he wanted a mining tax to address his own lack of confidence in his own performance. Moreover, when the Treasurer released the tax he made a complete hash of the issue. As reported on the front page of the Financial Review today, the mining tax package has had to be rescued and restructured by the Minister for Resources and Energy on at least three separate occasions, with five versions of the revenues to be raised. No wonder the minister for resources said that the Treasurer 'should take a good, hard look at himself'. It is hard to believe he does not look in the mirror every day! Of course when the chips are down you may not want the Treasurer to be by your side in the battle. As the member for Griffith said just last Saturday on the mining tax:

And when the brawl became its most intense, Wayne didn't seem to be around at the end …

The Treasurer is no man of courage—and we need a man of courage to guide the Australian economy. For example, immediately before the coup the Treasurer proclaimed his loyalty to the member for Griffith on at least three occasions, describing the member for Griffith as 'a terrific Prime Minister' on ABC radio. At the same time we now realise the Treasurer was thinking differently. These days the Treasurer describes the Rudd years as dysfunctional and the man he worked closely with as 'paralysed with indecision' and someone who found it 'very difficult to provide respectful leadership in the cabinet'.

However, the Treasurer was less than forthcoming with his colleague the member for Griffith. As the former prime minister said to Laurie Oakes just last Sunday:

I was doing my absolute best to run the country and to bring us through the global recession, totally focused on that. None of my colleagues in cabinet meetings or privately, including Mr Swan, who is now most vocal in his opposition, ever said that to me. I had very long and direct conversations with Mr Swan in the lead-up to the events of the coup on the 23rd and 24th of June that year. And at no time—at no time—did he reflect to me that there was any fundamental concern or any significant problem that would cause me or require me to change course, do something radically different, in order to retain the position of Prime Minister. In fact, the only time I found out that Mr Swan had changed his position on this was when I rang him after the coup had been launched, where he said to me simply, 'Oh. I'm backing change.' That was it. No prior warning. No nothing.

The words of the member for Griffith not a year ago, not two years ago, not five years ago but just last Sunday. So now we know the Treasurer has no courage, no conviction and no loyalty.

It has been the member for Lilley who has got things so badly wrong. On banking policy he has had a confused approach to out-of-cycle interest-rate movements at various times, describing them on the one hand as commercial decisions but on the other hand he warns, 'Don't let the banks off the hook.' Recently he said the banks are highly profitable and even suggested that they are trying to gouge their customers on rates. He urges people to shop around with banking. But under him the four major banks have gone from 75 per cent of market share to 86 per cent of market share for housing loans outstanding.

It was not the member for Griffith who rejected a carbon tax emphatically just before the 2010 election, as this Treasurer did. Then he proceeded to implement one. We well remember on the 7.30 Report, after I had just debated the Treasurer, when it was put to him by Kerry O'Brien that there would be a carbon tax, he said it was not going to happen, it was fanciful. What happened as Treasurer a few weeks later? He was party to the announcement by the Prime Minister that Labor was going to have a carbon tax. But again this man who is straight out of the Wizard of Oz, who is a lion with no courage, did not go along to that press conference even though the Prime Minister was announcing the largest new tax in modern Australian history. He cowered under his desk in the Treasurer's office. He is no man of courage. He says it is a huge reform to the Australian economy but when it was actually announced where was he? He was in his office. He left the hard, heavy lifting on the carbon tax to the now crippled Prime Minister, to the member for Lyne who was gushing at the time, and to the Leader of the Greens, Senator Bob Brown. The only thing that was not there was the ghost of Kevin Rudd. That was what was missing. But what we do know is that when it comes to credibility on the carbon tax you cannot believe anything this Treasurer says. It was not the member for Griffith who described a carbon tax package as roughly budget neutral, then announced a tax leaving the budget at least $3 billion worse off. It was not the member for Griffith who came up with the idea of dumping an emissions trading scheme in 2010. It was the Treasurer and the now Prime Minister who offered that advice and encouraged the then Prime Minister to change his position and demanded in response to opinion polls that the government not proceed with an emissions trading scheme.

It was not the member for Griffith who omitted the deficit number from the 2009 budget speech. Remember that? He could not bring himself to say it. It was not the member for Griffith who did not know in this building what the inflation rate was at a press conference or what the government's debt was when he was asked by one of our colleagues. It was not the member for Griffith who could not recall when Labor last delivered a budget surplus, in answer to a question from our friend over there. It was not the member for Griffith who nervously shattered a glass in an ABC studio after the last budget when he was quizzed on the details of his own budget work. It was not the member for Griffith who has taken a committed surplus next year on a free round-the-world flight, from a promise to a determination to a best shot and back to a promise. It was this Treasurer, the member for Lilley; responsible for his own actions, blaming others for everything else. It is the member for Lilley who was breaching the confidence of the Australian people at a critical time when Australians are cocooning and saving, fearful about what the future might hold for them and the volatility of the global economy. It is this Treasurer who is confused, uncertain, clumsy and incoherent. In order to save the Australian economy this Treasurer must go and must go now.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs ) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for North Sydney is usually a pretty good speaker but that would have to be one of the worst speeches he has ever given in this place. It was a 15-minute boring spray. It was so boring the member for Moncrieff was on his BlackBerry through the whole speech; the member for Cowan, who has left now, was on his BlackBerry as well; and the member for Menzies was on his iPad through the whole speech—such enthusiasm the opposition showed to support their shadow treasurer.

It has been a tough week for the government but one thing has been tougher than that, and that was sitting through that speech. It has only taken 15 minutes from the member for North Sydney to remind us why this Labor government is so important, why unity is so important, because the alternative is that. The alternative is a 15-minute spray with nothing about the economy. This is an MPI about confidence in the economy and the member for North Sydney did not even talk about the importance of confidence in the economy. He just made an attack on the Treasurer, the man who helped to lead this country through the global economic crisis. That is a bit rich coming from this opposition led by a man who Peter Costello said you could not trust with the economy, by a man who his former boss John Hewson said was innumerate, by somebody who thinks that the NBN is just for video games, by someone who opposes everything in this place and stands for nothing. He is the Nancy Reagan of Australian politics without the astrology—say no to everything, just rancid, dripping, relentless negativity. The greatest threat that our disunity poses is that it puts Australia and the Australian economy at risk of that.

A political party pays a heavy price for disunity because disunity camouflages your strengths and camouflages your opposition's weaknesses. Conversely, unity changes everything. Unity is your ticket to the contest. When you are united the people of Australia give you permission to explain your achievements and what you plan to achieve in the future. They also give you permission to legitimately critique your opposition. This opposition deserves to be critiqued. This is supposed to be a debate about the economy. The fact is, our economic record is strong and the opposition's is not. Our sweet spot is their weak spot—economic management.

The most important job of a federal government is to keep the economy strong. That is important because it means people have jobs. It means they can afford to look after their families. They can buy a house. They can pay off the mortgage. They can make sure that their kids have a good education. And that is what drives the government. That is why the Treasurer acted quickly during the global financial crisis. And the result of that? It meant that Australia was one of only a few countries around the world that did not go into recession in the last four years.

The Australian economy—this will put this debate in perspective—is now eight per cent larger than it was before the global financial crisis. Compare that to the rest of the world: Canada has grown by 2.8 per cent; Germany has grown by 1.8 per cent; the United States has not grown at all; Italy has shrunk by 4.1 per cent; Japan has shrunk by 2.8 per cent; France has shrunk by 4.2 per cent; the great United Kingdom has shrunk by 3.7 per cent; and, at the same time, Australia has grown by eight per cent, more than any of those countries. This is the real measure of confidence—growth.

What is its impact? The impact is jobs for Australians. We have created more than 700,000 jobs in this country in the last four years at a time when the 20 biggest economies around the world have lost 20 million jobs. Our unemployment rate is half that of many other countries around the world. Our unemployment rate is 5.1 per cent; in the US it is 8.3 per cent; in the UK it is 8.4 per cent; in Greece it is 19.2 per cent; in Spain it is 22.9 per cent. This is our record and it is something we on this side of the House are very proud of.

We have also cut income taxes. From 1 July this year someone on $50,000 a year will pay 21 per cent less in tax than when we came to government; someone on $35,000 a year will pay 40 per cent less tax than when we came to government; and, someone on $20,000 a year will pay no tax at all. We have increased the childcare rebate. We have increased the pension. We have introduced the first paid parental leave scheme in Australia's history. We are increasing superannuation from nine per cent to 12 per cent. This means someone on $50,000 now who is 30 years old will have an extra $100,000 to retire on. Next financial year we will return the budget to surplus ahead of every other major advanced economy in the world—the fastest budget turnaround since records have been kept.

What does all this mean? It means for the first time in Australia's history that we have a AAA credit rating from all three ratings agencies—something the great Liberal Party never achieved. These are the facts that reveal the real strength of the Australian economy. After just over four years of this Labor government, the Australian economy is stronger now compared to the rest of the world than ever before. Unfortunately, a lot of this has been masked. It has also masked the opposition's incompetence.

Well, I say, enough of that. This debate gives us an opportunity to shine a light on the crack economic team we just saw on display a moment earlier—the presumptive airs of Peter Costello and John Howard, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for North Sydney, the member for Goldstein, that great team which said we were going to go into recession and we did not, the team which said we would lose one million jobs when in fact we created 700,000 jobs, the team which said stimulus was not necessary to keep the Australian economy strong during the global financial crisis, the team which said that the global financial crisis was a hiccup, the team which refused to have their policies costed by Treasury at the last election and asked another company to do it for them. I remember the member for Goldstein said that their work 'would be as good as you could get anywhere in the country, as good as Treasury'. That did not prove to be the case because when Treasury had a look after the election they found an $11 billion hole in their costings and a professional conduct tribunal ended up fining the two accountants who did that work for the Liberal Party.

It gets worse, because the $11 billion hole we had just after the election has now turned into a $70 billion black hole. To put that in perspective for everyone listening today, that is about the same amount as the cuts the Greek government will have to make. One minute they promise a surplus, the next they do not. One minute they say they will have tax cuts in their first term, now they do not. This is amateur hour, and I say that apologising to all the amateurs around Australia. Why? Because the Leader of the Opposition and his crack economic team are writing cheques that the Liberal Party cannot cash. They are making promises that will mean they cannot return the budget to surplus.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not to talk about four deficits in a row.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Bradfield!

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs ) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will mean that when this government brings the budget back to surplus the Liberal Party would deliver deficit after deficit across the forward estimates.

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bradfield is warned.

Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs ) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Perhaps the most perplexing element to this crack economic team's economic record is their decision to take away tax cuts from small business and give it back to big mining companies. This is the party that was born out of small business—Menzies' forgotten people, the people they once said they would look after—and they now want to rip away tax cuts for small business and give it to billionaires, to big mining companies. Robert Menzies would be spinning in his grave if he heard this now. This is not the party of Menzies anymore. It is not even the party of John Howard or Peter Costello anymore. Remember what I said earlier: you would not trust this man to run the economy. Nor should the Australian people. They want a debate about the economy. I say, terrific. This is the battle ground that most Australians care about. It affects their lives every single day. This government has the ammunition to have that debate.

Let's compare our record against your record. Have a look at these figures. Jobs are higher now than they have ever been before—more than 11,400,000 are now employed. Inflation is lower now than it was when the Liberal Party left office. Under us, underlying inflation is 2.6 per cent. When they left office it was outside the RBA's target band at 3.7 per cent. The cash rate is lower than it was under them. It is 4.25 per cent, while it was 6.75 when they left office. The cost of the average mortgage is lower now than it was when the Liberal Party left office. An average family—and there are plenty of them in my electorate—paying off a mortgage of $300,000 now pays $3,000 less a year in mortgage repayments. Government spending is also lower. Under this government real spending growth averages 1.5 per cent over the forward estimates. Under them, spending blew out to 3.7 per cent over the last five years. Under this government real wages have also grown faster. Real wages have grown by eight per cent since November 2007. Real wages grew by only 5.4 per cent over the last four years of the last Liberal government. These are the facts and this is our record.

It is a fact that politics is about choices. At the next election the people of Australia will have a choice. If they vote for the Labor Party they will get this sort of economic management. If they vote for the Liberal Party, who knows what sort of economic management they would get. If they vote for the Labor Party they will get tax cuts. If they vote for the Liberal Party, we now know that tax cuts are just an aspiration. Vote for the Labor Party and they will know we are giving an increase to pensioners. Vote for the Liberal Party and they will take that increase to pensioners back. Vote for the Labor Party and the people of Australia will get the National Broadband Network. Vote for the Liberal Party and they will rip that network out. Vote for the Labor Party and you will get the budget back into surplus. Vote for the Liberal Party and you will get a $70 billion black hole. Vote for the Labor Party and you will get a national disability insurance scheme. If you vote for the Liberal Party you will not. If you vote for the Liberal Party, as the people of New South Wales have seen in the last few weeks, you end up with disabled kids on the side of the road waiting for a bus that never comes.

That is the choice the people of Australia will have, and it is time it was known. It is time that this lazy, incompetent opposition, who cannot even speak about the economy for 15 minutes—and I am encouraging the next speaker to try to speak about the economy for longer than the member for North Sydney—was exposed for what they are. They are not the party of Menzies any more. They are not the party of Howard and Costello any more. They cannot even pretend to be Peter Costello or John Howard by standing on their shoulders.

We are happy to have this economic debate. We are happy to have it every day of the week, because we have the record and we are very happy to compare it against yours. When you compare our record on the economy to yours the choice is clear.

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have just seen another performance from the minister opposite that sums up so much about the failings of the Labor Party today, the failings of this government—the worst government in living memory—and the effect that is having on business confidence right around Australia. The previous speaker just spoke about how if they can get unity on their side they will highlight their strengths. What the Australian people have seen in the last week are the two Labor parties. In the last week they have seen the real Labor Party, and that of course is the hate party. As of today they are now seeing the resumption of the Labor Party they have known since 2007, the fake party. The actions of this government show their administrative incompetence in program delivery. Couple this with the 24-hour, seven days a week display we have seen of their inability to work with each other. Their views of each other, views spoken from their own mouths, have rightly given the Australian people the horrible message that this government are not spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week working on the problems that require solutions and nor are they working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to strengthen the economy. Instead, they have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week attacking each other. You do not need to take our word for it on the urgent need for the government to restore confidence. There is survey after survey. Last week the Morgan survey showed a fall in consumer confidence. It showed a reduction through this year and over the course of last year. But it is not just those surveys. The former foreign minister and Prime Minister himself, when he gave that infamous press conference from the Willard hotel in Washington DC, cited damaged confidence in the Australian economy. He cited business leaders who had made this very point to him about the dysfunctionality of the current government.

When you look at the fake party it is quite understandable that when the Australian public look at the troubles in Europe and look at the troubles in the budget in the United States, which they have been digesting for a couple of years now, they look to Canberra and want to know that the government is spending every minute of every day working on these problems—and they want to know that the government is competent. In both fields they have seen the answer. They have known for some time that the government is administratively incompetent. The simple proposition that incompetence here in Canberra creates a lack of confidence right around Australia is something that only those on the other side of the House would deny.

A lack of competence in the Lodge and a lack of competence in the cabinet room leads to a lack of confidence throughout the Australian economy. Those in small business, and families, look at the quality of the government and make a judgment about its ability to deal with difficult situations. I could argue, as most public commentators would also argue, that this has been on display for at least a couple of years. I could recite all the failed programs and, as the shadow Treasurer quite rightly did, the Treasurer's incompetence in his job and the way he has changed position on the economy over the course of his Treasurership.

The last week has been an extra revelation that dims the confidence of the Australian community. They have seen the true Labor Party—the hate party. We have seen it on display. The shadow Treasurer quite rightly read out some of the colourful quotes we have seen over the course of the last week. I will pick up just one set of contributions that says so much about those opposite, and it is from the member for McEwen, who a couple of weeks ago went public against the member for Griffith. He said he was a coward, in the Melbourne Herald Sun. He said he should 'put up or shut up'. He said:

And when they lose then they and their mates should just go to the backbench and then wander off at the next election.

We will see how much courage the member for McEwen has today if the Herald Sun follows him up. We will see whether he still thinks the member for Griffith and those who supported him should leave at the next election.

But it gets better. After engaging as best he could in the hate party and showing the Australian public his true agenda and what he spends his time on, here he was this morning at a doorstop, looking the cameras in the eye and saying to the Australian people and his electorate: 'Can I tell you, last night it was business as usual with everyone. We were all together having a good time.' This is absolutely unbelievable. It is this sort of deception that the Australian people see.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite do not get it. They are prattling on opposite, but they do not get that their administrative incompetence and what they have done in the last week damages business confidence. Do you understand this simple concept? The Australian public look at you—the most incompetent government in living memory, with the most pathetic backbench in living memory. You said for 18 months that the member for Griffith was absolutely fantastic, right up until the day before the member for Griffith had to go. You had the Treasurer of the country, two weeks before the member for Griffith was politically executed, saying what a great job he was doing. The Treasurer then released this extraordinary statement about the dysfunctionality of the government under the member for Griffith.

Yet those opposite think that somehow this does not send the signal to the Australian community that all is not well in Canberra. If you are looking at investing in a small business, or if you are running a small business and thinking about expanding, you might be thinking: 'They are having some tough times in Europe. How are things going in the Australian economy?' Do you really think the incompetent display you have put on, where you have revealed exactly what your priorities are and the lack of cohesion and lack of purpose in your government, has no possible effect on business confidence?

Those opposite have now gone back to the fake party. The one thing—the only thing—I would agree with the previous speaker on is that the next election will be a choice. When the Australian public go to the ballot box, they will have a choice between hope for reward and opportunity and the continuing chaos that they have seen since 24 November 2007. There is one thing this government could do to improve business confidence. It is, as the Leader of the Opposition said over the course of the last week, to let the people of Australia have an election to make that choice that the minister opposite was talking about. So let them make the choice and that will restore business confidence, because they will have the chance to elect a government of grown-ups that is capable of managing the Australian economy.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the member for Parramatta, while I was reluctant to call the member for Casey to order a couple of times, I note that the use of the words 'you' and 'your government' is a reflection on the chair. I remind all members that when they are addressing their comments it is not 'you' or 'your' and they should be referring to people by their title or the particular arm of government or opposition.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and it would have been truly terrible if the member for Casey meant to inflict on you that level of personal abuse that he seemed happy to spray forth for a full wasted 10 minutes. The matter of public importance that we are supposed to be debating today, one which I thought we were going to debate and I looked forward to, is about the level of confidence in the management of the Australian economy. It is actually a serious matter, it is a matter of public importance and I would have hoped that the opposition would have actually had something to say about the economy. But what we have had instead in this House from the first speaker, the member for North Sydney, and from the second speaker, the member for Casey, has been 25 minutes of wasted time filled with personal abuse and a personal attack on the Treasurer, not on his record but on the perception that they have of his character, presumably one that they got from spending the last two days looking through whatever rubbish they could find in the media.

This is ridiculous. We should be talking about the economy and there is much to talk about. If they have any more speakers—and I hope they do not because, quite frankly, I think we have got better things to do in this place than listen to that level of nonsense; we really do have more to do than listen to that nonsense—that want to talk about the economy please let them stand up and do so; otherwise, we should move on to some serious business, because that is what we try to do in this House.

But let us talk about the management of the Australian economy since that is the issue that the shadow Treasurer actually put on the agenda. Let us talk about what people have to say about the Australian economy and our management of it. Let us start with someone that those opposite know quite well. Let us start with the Leader of the Opposition and what he has to say about the Australian economy:

On the face of this comparative performance, Australia has serious bragging rights. Compared to most developed countries, our economic circumstances are enviable.

That was a direct quote from the Leader of the Opposition when he was out of the country speaking to people in the United Kingdom, not something he is prepared to say here. When he is here he is happy to do his best to tear down confidence in the Australian economy at every opportunity, looking for anything he can find that might make people frightened or might make people doubt the strength of the Australian economy. But once he gets out of here to a place where there are not voters listening—or he thinks they are not listening—he speaks the truth in that context:

On the face of this comparative performance, Australia has serious bragging rights. Compared to most developed countries, our economic circumstances are enviable.

So I would say to the opposition that, if they want to put forward a matter of public importance about the need for the government to restore confidence in the management of the Australian economy, they could start with their own behaviour. They could start talking openly and honestly about what has been happening in this country and around the world over the last four years and about exactly how strong we are. They could actually talk about the economy instead of engaging in 25 minutes of useless personal attacks on character. What an extraordinary waste of the time of this parliament.

In a moment we will see who else has something to say about the Australian economy. For a start, we have a AAA credit rating from all three of the rating agencies. That is the first time in Australia's history that we have had that AAA rating from all three of the rating agencies—not something that those on the other side have ever managed to achieve and not something that they are prepared to mention in Australia. They are not prepared to acknowledge the strength of the economy in this country at all. They will go overseas and do it there but in no way will they do it here. Let us talk about what Governor Stevens of the Reserve Bank had to say just last Friday:

Our rate of unemployment has a 'five' at the front and the next digit is a small number. Inflation is about where we want it and our banks are strong. Our government finances, despite some pickup in debt in recent years, are … that basically we are a AAA-rated country and rightly so—there are not many of those. We are attractive to foreign investment. The government did not end up having to own any banks as a result of the crisis. There is a lot that is good about this picture.

That is a direct quote from the Governor of the Reserve Bank as recently as last Friday. Let us look at the underlying conditions that actually lead to people having that view, that lead to us being rated AAA by three agencies and that lead to the Leader of the Opposition saying, when he was out of the country, that we have 'serious bragging rights'.

Let us see why the Leader of the Opposition thinks that Australia has 'serious bragging rights' when it comes to its economy. We have low unemployment at 5.1 per cent. That is compared to 8.3 per cent in the US and 10.4 per cent in Europe. We have more people employed now than we have ever had in the history of Australia, and that is in spite of moving through the global financial crisis, which has hit the rest of the world incredibly badly. We in this country were shielded by the quick action of this government and we have unemployment in the low fives. That is an extraordinary achievement and it is worth bragging about when you go overseas—and the Leader of the Opposition thought so too. Our economy has grown seven per cent since the global financial crisis while others are only just recovering or are struggling to do so. We know that many are not recovering and we know that around the world there are countries that are still seriously struggling but our economy has grown by seven per cent. We have received some timely reminders quite recently. In January 46,000 jobs were created with the unemployment rate again trickling down to 5.1 per cent, which was virtually unchanged from 12 months ago. So that is 46,000 jobs in January.

Our investment pipeline is another indication of how investors see this economy and the strength of Australia moving into the future. A report from Access Economics shows our investment pipeline remains intact. It increased to $913 billion in the December quarter, which is again an extraordinary statement of faith in the Australian dollar and is perhaps something that the Leader of the Opposition might want to brag about in this country as well as when he is overseas. We have seen improvements in both business and consumer confidence in the last couple of weeks, in spite of the opposition's very serious attempts to talk down the economy in this country as often as they can. Consumer confidence was up by 4.2 per cent in February, and the NAB monthly business survey showed a slight increase in business confidence in January. So we are seeing very real improvements in that area. Last week the Australian share market had its strongest weekly performance in three months, which is also something we can take as a sign that things are moving along as they should.

Let us look at the comparisons between this government and the last one. Again, if the Howard government had achieved what we are achieving I suspect that the Leader of the Opposition would be bragging in this country as well as overseas. For example, real spending growth averages 1.5 per cent over the forward estimates compared to 3.7 per cent under the last five years of the Howard government. Our tax as a share of GDP will be 21.2 per cent in 2011-12 compared to 24.2 per cent under the Howard government. In other words, as a share of GDP, tax is less under the Labor government than it was under the Howard government.

Mr Buchholz interjecting—

I know from the interjection opposite that the opposition do not like to acknowledge that. They do not like to acknowledge the achievements so far. They do not like to speak the truth in this country. They just wait till they go overseas to do it. They brag overseas and run a fear campaign in this country.

Mr Buchholz interjecting—

Honestly, if the member for Wright wants to interject he should look at the words of his own leader. The Leader of the Opposition speaks the truth when he gets out of this country, when he is not putting votes ahead of the interests of this nation. When he puts votes ahead of the interests of this nation he has nothing but negative things to say and when he goes overseas and wants to piggyback on the success of Australia he speaks the truth and talks about our 'bragging rights' in the management of this economy. The opposition should look at their own behaviour first, really.

At the moment the cash rate that families are working with is 4.25 per cent. It was 6.75 per cent when the Howard government lost office. It was 2.5 per cent higher under the Howard government than it is now. The standard variable mortgage rate is down to 7.3 per cent compared to 8.6 per cent when we first came into government. Our credit rating is AAA, which we have never achieved before from the three credit agencies. We have grown by eight per cent since November 2007, when in the last four years of the Howard government it was 5.4 per cent. So, in the biggest global financial crisis, real wages have grown more under this government than they did under the last one. There is much to be proud of with this. It is just such a shame that the Leader of the Opposition cannot say that in Australia. (Time expired)

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There would not be another electorate in Australia that would be more interested than mine in the topic of this afternoon's matter of public importance debate. There is a crisis of confidence in my electorate, and it is directly linked to the uncertainty that this government has created through its reckless decision to legislate for the world's biggest carbon tax. The government like to claim that the job losses we have seen in the manufacturing sector have all been caused by external factors—that is, the high dollar at work and a range of other excuses—and that it is simply not their fault. My simple answer to that is: why make it harder? Why make it tougher for Australian manufacturers and other businesses, including the agricultural sector, to compete on world markets? People are losing their jobs today as a direct result of the lack of confidence in the future and the cost implications of the carbon tax.

The fundamental flaw in this Prime Minister's whole strategy lies in the fact that she still has not dealt with the breach of trust with the Australian people in relation to the carbon tax. Every other problem that has been put in front of this Prime Minister stems from that fundamental breach of trust with the Australian people where she famously ruled out a carbon tax before the election and has now set about implementing it without getting a mandate from the people.

This week the Australian people have had a very close look at the internal machinations of the Australian Labor Party and, I must say, they have been repulsed by the ugly sight that they have seen. We have seen bullying, threatening behaviour and intimidation. The previous speaker chastised the member for Casey and the member for North Sydney for allegedly indulging in personal abuse of members of the other side, but if we want to see personal abuse all we need to do is turn on the television and listen to Labor ministers talking about their colleagues. It has been an appalling example of how this government is dysfunctional at its very heart. I would actually not be able to use in this place some of the phrases and descriptions that those ministers have used, Mr Deputy Speaker. You would pull me up because it would be unparliamentary to use those sorts of phrases. But they are the phrases that ministers have felt free to use to describe each other. That dysfunction, that ugly side of the Australian Labor Party, has torn away at the confidence of the Australian people. They expect so much more from our elected leaders. What we are experiencing now is a deterioration in confidence as a direct result of the dysfunction which starts in the Prime Minister's office.

That dysfunction has lead to an erosion of confidence in communities like mine in Gippsland. I meet with the owners of small businesses all the time, and what they are telling me, particularly in relation to the carbon tax, is that the job losses have started already. Small engineering firms are now reporting back to me that the major power stations are doing only the absolute minimum they have to do in their maintenance programs. Any discretionary expenditure has been wound back and the jobs have been reduced. A small engineering firm that may have been getting $10,000 or $20,000 per week in jobs through the power stations is now looking at $1,000 or $2,000 per week. They are saying, 'One job is lost over here and another one over there.' They are not the headline-grabbing job losses we have seen with some of the major losses around the state; they are happening on a smaller scale—and this is before the carbon tax has even been introduced.

I have a practical local example. I have a letter here from a major engineering company which in the middle of last year was in the throes of, well advanced in, its plan to purchase a smaller engineering firm in the Latrobe Valley. The plan was to take all the six staff from the small engineering firm. The firm had progressed as far as receiving planning approval, expanding their workshop and negotiating the final terms and conditions. I will not name the firm, but I will quote what they said in relation to their planned purchase. Their letter states: 'The announcements by the federal government yesterday with regard to a carbon tax and the ensuing power station closure discussions have caused our board of directors to require more time in order to develop a strategy for the group companies within the Latrobe Valley.' In the time that has passed subsequent to that letter they have pulled out of the sale, because they have no confidence in the future of power stations in the Latrobe Valley under this government's carbon tax regime.

It is not just this side of the House which recognises this lack of confidence in the business community. I have a quote here from the member for Griffith. A lot of people have given some free character assessments of him in the past week. In a statement from Washington last week, the member for Griffith said:

I also believe it is affecting the business community and I agree with recent statements by peak bodies to this effect.

It is important that business confidence is maintained in Australia—the economy and jobs are core to what any responsible government is about.

The member for Griffith is referring there specifically to the dysfunction at the very highest levels of this government. The minister for industry and resources said in relation to the carbon tax:

I think there's a lot of concern in industry at the moment about the price we've locked in given where Europe is at the moment in terms of price of carbon—whether we've locked in a price that's to our disadvantage as a nation.

It is not just members on this side who are raising concerns about the carbon tax and the impact it is having on confidence in the economy; it is also members on the other side when they feel free to finally speak their mind. As long as this carbon tax hangs over the heads of Australian businesses and industries, it is hard to see that confidence being restored.

The issue of the carbon tax is one that is being followed very closely in my community. Naturally, because we have the brown coal-fired power stations, we are very much at the pointy end of the debate. For people in this community, it is about their jobs; it is about the lives that they can lead today; it is about the future that their children may have and whether they can obtain a trade and get to stay and work in the Latrobe Valley; and it is about what role they can play in the future economic growth of our great nation. From the moment the government broke its promise in relation to the carbon tax, there has been a crisis of confidence in the Latrobe Valley.

In addition to those engineering firms which I have referred to and the larger power stations, the business community hate the uncertainty that has been created by this circumstance. All of this is coming from a Prime Minister who was quoted in the media quite recently as saying that she wants to run the economy 'in the interests of working people'.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Humph.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear the member for Riverina scoff, with good cause. The Prime Minister's comment will come as a huge surprise to the people in my electorate. It will also come as a huge surprise to the power station workers in my electorate. The Prime Minister and every member of the government has voted to kick them out of their jobs. There are hundreds of power station workers in the Latrobe Valley today who will lose their jobs under the carbon tax Contract for Closure scheme. There can be no greater blow to the confidence of a regional economy than unemployment. This government and every member of it has voted to sack blue-collar workers in the Latrobe Valley, and now they sit there silently—not a word. Members opposite are sitting there silently, just as they sat silently during this debate on the carbon tax. Not one of them stood up for the workers in the Latrobe Valley; not one of them had the guts to stand up for the blue-collar workers in the Latrobe Valley who will lose their jobs under this government's carbon tax. Those jobs are in the hands of Labor MPs. The future of those families in the Latrobe Valley is up to those opposite.

I just question whatever happened to that grand old party, the grand old Australian Labor Party, that proudly claimed to stand up for the workers of this nation. The workers that I speak to do not want Labor's household assistance package. They do not want Labor's transition plan. They do not want Labor's promise of new green jobs. They want the security of the job they have got today.

Sharon Grierson (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You'll take them back to the fifties.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finally, someone has spoken up and referenced the fifties. In the fifties, the power station workers in the Latrobe Valley had a job, and you are going to take it away from them. Your government is prepared to take away the power station workers' jobs in the Latrobe Valley under its Contract for Closure scheme. I invite the member opposite to stand up and explain to me how she is going to stop that. Quite clearly, there is no interest among members opposite to actually stop the carbon tax and the Contract for Closure scheme and the way that it will cascade through regional economies like a toxic waterfall.

This carbon tax will take money out of households, which means there will be less money available to be spent in regional businesses. In essence, it is a blight on the Australian community that this government is inflicting upon households, businesses and heavy industry at a time when we can least afford it.

Just after the Prime Minister's treacherous disposal of the member for Griffith in 2010, she fronted the Australian public and said, 'There will be some days I delight you and there may be some days I disappoint you.' I have a tremendous view of the Labor party backbench from where I sit, and I am not seeing a lot of smiling faces. I am not seeing a lot of delight. In fact, I see a lot of disappointment written all over their faces. But this carbon tax is not about them. It is about the power station workers I just spoke about. It is about honest, hardworking men and women who just want to earn a reasonable pay and look after their families. It is about businesses and industry leaders who want to stay competitive and export their products around the world without being handicapped in the race by a tax that none of their competitors will pay.

I say to the Prime Minister: all we have seen is disappointment. You have not delighted anyone in the Latrobe Valley. So why won't you not dump this tax before Australians really start to get hurt? The question that the people of the Latrobe Valley are asking this Prime Minister is: why are you making it harder for businesses to make a quid? Why are you making it harder for businesses to compete on world markets? And why are you making it harder for businesses to employ people, develop new skills and invest in the future of the our nation? It is no wonder that the Australian people have lost confidence in this Prime Minister. (Time expired)

Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to speak on the matter of public importance this afternoon. I think the title, 'The urgent need for the government to restore confidence in their management of the Australian economy', has been well put, because the government has been doing that. There is only one side of this parliament that has not been. It is the side that has been out there day after day, whether we are in parliament or back in our electorates, talking our economy down. Every time a measure is put to this parliament to improve Australia's economy, who talks about ripping it down? Of course it is the opposition.

We hear the same old story, and it has not mattered which leader they have had over that side of the chamber. I remember the former Leader of the Opposition, when we were dealing with the first stimulus package, saying, 'There were really no problems in Australia; we did not need to worry about things like that'—talking the economy down, and it has continued ever since. We hear it every day in this place at question time. We hear it almost every day when another motion to suspend standing orders is moved and, of course, defeated. This has become a bit of a joke on the Australian public because it is the government doing the work to not only build our economy but also make life better for working people and families in Australia.

I have listened to some of this debate and heard opposition members talk about all sorts of things, but when it has come to economic management and jobs they seem to stray off a little, and I wonder why. When you look overseas and see what has happened there, you find examples of countries that have dealt with the global financial crisis in a different way. In Australia, as I can prove, we have done better than other countries. We have done better by investing not only in building infrastructure but also in jobs. That is a great thing. It is not just a short-term thing. It is not money that is handed over to a private bank to help bail it out, to help pay out shareholders. It is money put into community infrastructure that will last for years, for decades.

Even better than that, although we get the infrastructure, we provide jobs along the way, jobs in the construction industry for thousands and thousands of people, many in my electorate and many in surrounding electorates. That is a great thing because, quite honestly, as so many tradespeople, engineers, consultants and architects and everyone involved in the construction industry told me during 2008, 2009 and into 2010, 'We would not be working if it were not for these programs.' That is simply true. Work had dried up in the construction industry. There was no private investment going around and an awful lot of people did not know where their next job was going to be. For those who do not know the construction industry, it can be quite itinerant. Many workers in the industry literally go from job to job. Sometimes they may work for months on a job; sometimes it may only be a day or two. If there is not another job to go to then that is a particularly worrying time because it can be a long time until the next one comes up.

By putting in programs like the Building the Education Revolution, this government was able to provide thousands and thousands of jobs in that industry. Electorates like my electorate of Deakin have benefited by an $80 million investment in new school buildings. Those will last for decades. They have refreshed and upgraded our schools and are a wonderful community asset that will outlast many of those members in this chamber.

Figures on the great work done locally on the economy speak for themselves. In total, our economy has grown seven per cent since the global financial crisis while other countries, as I have said, are still struggling to recover lost ground. As we know, an additional 46,000 jobs were created in January this year and Australia's unemployment rate is now at 5.1 per cent. That is an even better achievement when compared to a rate of 8.3 per cent in the US and 10.4 per cent in Europe. If we look back, we see that during the worst of the global financial crisis the US unemployment rate reached 10.2 per cent, or a total of 15.7 million people out of work in October 2009. Here in Australia the unemployment rate rose to 5.7 per cent before going back to 5.1 per cent now.

We invested. That is one of the great reasons Australia is better off than other countries which have had to deal with the global financial crisis. We have something to show for it. Unfortunately, there are many countries in Europe and many countries in the Americas that have put an awful lot of money in and really do not have a whole lot of results to show for their money. Not only did we invest in schools, we also invested in the Nation Building Program. Out of that, again, came more local jobs and more local infrastructure. That was a great help, a saviour, to many in my local area.

We had large projects such as the Springvale Road underpass funded through that program. As a result there were hundreds of jobs created there and the community got a lasting benefit, one that will serve for decades to come. It was a job that should have been done not just a few years ago but decades ago as well. A six-lane road with a railway crossing and 218 trains a day does not add up. All it means is traffic congestion from one side of the suburb of Nunawading to the other. Now that the work is done you do not even notice that it is there—I suppose that is a real compliment. If people do not notice the traffic jam, that is a good thing. Where it once was, even on a Sunday afternoon, if you had driven a car along Springvale Road you could well have been banked up for half a kilometre, even more, in a traffic jam. Peak hour times during the week were, of course, far worse.

If we go back to 2009 and recall some of the votes in this place, it was the opposition which moved an amendment that would have taken away the funding for that project. If that had been the case, those hundreds of jobs would not have been created and the infrastructure would not be there. That is part of the story as to how Australia-wide 200,000 jobs were saved. It is much easier to express when you have local examples. Many people look at large numbers and, although the large numbers may look impressive—including to people in this place—quite often they need to be given local relevance that I can show someone.

It may not need to be hundreds of millions of dollars or millions. It can be quite small amounts, but it makes a big difference to a local community organisation. Maybe the organisation has been able to upgrade its pavilion or playing ground and has been looking to do that for years and years to make life better for its club members. Of course, not just one club uses most of these grounds, it is a vast range of them. Investing in the community, as we have done in government, is one of the best things a Labor government can ever do. It has meant that so many people—not just in my electorate but also in every electorate across Australia—have been able to have better community facilities, better education facilities and better health facilities. Money has also gone in and, again, by building, expanding and improving services the community gets the benefit. That is the great thing about our investment during the global financial crisis and onwards, because we are the party that cares about jobs. We are the party that cares about people's living standards. It is important, and Australia has to have the strongest economy we can achieve. By doing what we have done and by continuing to do so, we can say—and we know—that more than 700,000 jobs have been created over the past four years. That rate of growth in jobs, in sheer numbers, is amazing given what we have been through with the downturn that still persists today in so many countries across the world.

We can go on to where things can go from now. Just recently in this House, of course, we debated the minerals resources rent tax. The money that will flow from that once it is passed by the Senate will flow back and assist the community. It will flow back from companies that can afford to pay it to small businesses that could really do with a tax cut—from companies that can afford to pay it to people who could really do with an increase in their superannuation savings.

These sorts of things are important and do matter, and they make a difference to the long term. They are important and of course there are many more of them, and this is not the only example. There is the tax write-off for small businesses of $6,000. It is a magnificent thing for a small business to be able to invest and know that they do not have to wait— (Time expired)

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The discussion is now concluded.