Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the state of the economy? How will building a strong economy help businesses in Tasmania and around Australia?

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

I thank the honourable member for Bass for his question and note that, by giving the Greens in Tasmania the political boot, Tasmania now is starting to see some green economic shoots. How good is that? All they had to do was get rid of the Greens. You would think the Greens exemplified prosperity and opportunity, but instead it was darkness and job losses. Construction work figures released yesterday show that construction in Tasmania is over nine per cent higher than a year ago.

That is a pretty common story across Australia; we are starting to see green shoots—certainly not related to the Greens!—in a number of different areas. Capital expenditure increased by 1.1 per cent in the June quarter 2014 driven by an increase in building and other structures—mainly residential—slightly higher than market expectations.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The clock has been at zero for the duration, and I am drawing it to your attention.

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

You want me to keep going!

Honourable members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will have some order. I say to the Manager of Opposition Business thank you for reminding me. I draw the attention of those people in the box at the back of the chamber to kindly make sure the clocks are operating correctly. We will ask the Treasurer to begin his answer again.

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

I can do it again! The coalition is building a stronger Australian economy. The coalition is helping to build a stronger Tasmanian economy. We are doing so by getting on with the job of delivering the economic reforms so necessary to fix up the mess that was left by Labor. My state colleagues in Tasmania have a similar challenge. They are releasing their budget, I think, today, and it is dealing with another mess left by the Labor Party and the Greens.

Of course, it all starts with a budget. Labor's legacy here at a national level was to leave $123 billion of deficits, to leave us with a monthly debt interest bill of $1 billion, 70 per cent of which we have to pay to people living overseas because that is who we borrow the money from. Australians have to borrow money from people overseas because we do not self-fund our own economy. When the federal government runs a deficit, it has to borrow money, and a huge chunk of that comes from people living overseas, so the interest goes back to those people living overseas. Unless we take corrective action now on the budget and unless we make the decisions now—urged on by the Governor of the Reserve Bank; the Secretary of Treasury; Moody's; Standard and Poor's; the IMF; the OECD, the Parliamentary Budget Office, and just about every economist in the country—and get on with the job of fixing the budget now then the pain for everyday Australians in the future will be far greater. In fact, it will work out at an interest bill of $3 billion a month within 10 years—$3 billion a month! There will be $667 billion of debt in 10 years unless we take action now. And our budget is about taking action now. Only the Labor Party could possibly be in denial about that—the Labor Party that caused the mess; the Labor Party that did not flinch as unemployment surged past 6 per cent; the Labor Party that did not flinch at $123 billion of excess; the Labor Party that did not flinch about lying to the Australian people about delivering a surplus—

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton is warned.

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

but in fact delivering more than a decade of deficits.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin is warned.

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

I know in Paul Kelly's book Craig Emerson nailed the Leader of the Opposition as a hypocrite. Look no further than their budget and economic policy.