Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

We can hold our chest out, Senator Milne. The real increases in wages and salaries which have been achieved by workers under this government are in contrast to what was achieved under the former Labor government. This government does not support economic reform for the sake of economic reform; we support economic reform for the benefits that it delivers to the Australian people, including the social benefits. It is easy to measure one major social benefit. We have brought unemployment down from the maximum rate of around 11 per cent that occurred under the previous Labor administration to around 4.9 per cent today, the lowest in a generation. That is what I call social reform with a vengeance. If you can reduce the levels of unemployment in this country and deliver real jobs to people, that to me is major social reform. Indeed, I think the Australian public recognise that.

The other area which you would know of, Senator Murray, is that, if you have a healthy economy and manage fiscal policy in a sensible fashion, it means that you are able to do far more in the social area than could have been achieved if the economy had been poorly managed. We are seeing a well-managed economy, which means revenues are rising. We have paid off debt, which means the enormous interest bill commitment has now been cut back dramatically. In fact, it is heading towards zero. The fact of the matter is that we have been able to transfer money from paying interest to paying for things like education and health.

So I do not really buy your distinction between being an economic manager and being a government of social reform. The economic achievements of this government have assisted us to deliver social reform in a wide variety of areas, which the Labor Party could not even contemplate while it was in government because the books were so grossly mismanaged. The final point is that, when you talk about the impact on families, you only have to remember the 17 per cent home mortgage rates that occurred under the Labor Party and contrast those with home mortgage rates today. Think of the benefits that that has delivered to families.

Senator Murray, we know that you thought hard on this. The government has been able to engage with you over a long period of time in areas of tax. Sometimes the engagement has been very productive and sometimes it has not succeeded. Today, I have to report to you, it has not succeeded.

Question negatived.