Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I think that all senators would want to congratulate those involved in that rescue. The rescue demonstrates that we were successful in retrieving these two people from the bottom of the ocean, off Rottnest Island, I think. We know that the Labor Party have two policies on privatisation. When they were in power, they privatised Australian Airlines, the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and the Commonwealth Bank. They sold all of those assets and used them to fund current expenditure: they sold the silver to pay the butler. The great thing that we on this side did when we privatised things is that we used the proceeds to pay off the debt that was racked up by  Labor. And now, having paid off all of Labor’s debt, we are now using the proceeds of privatisations to build up a Future Fund to make Australia economically secure for many years to come—a Future Fund that Rudd Labor would raid for short-term, politically expedient purposes. That is the difference. (Time expired)