Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on what recent international economic developments say about the strength of our economy and why responsible budgeting is important for keeping our economy and community strong?

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

I thank the member for Bass for that important question, because we do have significant challenges in the global economy. We have many European countries in recession and we have weak growth in the United States. And, of course, many developed countries across the world are not back to where they were prior to the global financial crisis. That means very high levels of unemployment right across developed economies.

I think everybody in the House can take heart from developments in the international economy over the past four or five days. We have seen the intervention of the ECB in Europe, which was certainly welcome—the intervention by Mario Draghi—and we have seen the decisions in the United States for QE3. I think we can take some heart from those announcements, which will simply support global growth.

But we are not immune from challenges in the global economy. One thing that has strengthened our economy has been the decisive action taken by this government, in the face of the global financial crisis and the global recession, to support jobs and support small business in the Australian economy. So, we have not suffered the capital destruction and the closures of the small businesses that we have seen in other developed economies, and we have of course had very strong employment growth.

Those actions were opposed by those opposite. They opposed the support we put in place for our economy to support small business and employment. We know that the Leader of the Opposition actually slept through the critical vote during that period, showing you the values that he brought to that debate: the lack of concern for skills, the lack of concern for jobs and the lack of support for a strong community.

Since that time we have put in place savings in our budget of $130 billion to bring the budget back to surplus in 2012-13 and to make room for our priorities. It has been all about the values that we on this side of the House hold to support communities, small business and jobs. We believe that everyone in this country must have a say in our prosperity and a stake in our prosperity into the future.

The values of those opposite are entirely different. We have seen in the past week or two a sneak preview of what an Abbott government would do in this country if it were in charge.

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

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order that goes to relevance. The Treasurer was asked about international information about the state of the economy. How could this possibly be relevant to the question?

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

The member for North Sydney will resume his seat. The Deputy Prime Minister has the call.

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

I was also asked about domestic fiscal policy. We have put in place responsible savings built on our values. Those opposite have an entirely different set of propositions which are built on their values. Their values are ones which take the axe to essential services in health and education, slashing employment in a savage way, particularly in my home state of Queensland—14,000 people hit immediately. We have seen it again today in their proposal to get rid of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, a vital element of flood recovery in the great state of Queensland. (Time expired)