Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When I received the standing order 75 notice as to a matter of public importance and noted Senator Sherry citing ‘the weak financial discipline of the Howard government’, I thought that Senator Sherry had all of a sudden become very courageous or desperate—or perhaps both. It reminds me of an episode of The West Wing that I saw the other day. There was a political adviser talking about the forthcoming presidential election. He said: ‘Left-wing and centre left parties should always talk about health, education, welfare and the environment. Conservative political parties should always talk about national security and the economy. When centre left parties start talking about economics, financial rectitude and financial discipline, they are either very desperate or’—in Australia we might say they are becoming rather full of themselves. That confidence, moreover, is not borne out by the record or by the history of the Australian Labor Party—and that really is the point of the debate here this afternoon.

More times than I can remember since I have been in this place, we on this side of the chamber have recited the history of Labor’s last effort in government. You will recall, Mr Acting Deputy President Lightfoot, the $96 million budget blow-out—the Beazley black hole. You will recall that the interest rate on that deficit alone ran into the billions of dollars per year. You will also recall the 17 per cent interest rate under the Hawke-Keating Labor government, the 10 per cent unemployment rate, the high inflation and the septic economic performance of the Australian Labor Party by 1996—worse than septic; it was also dishonest because they did not tell the Australian people the full story of their mismanagement.

Without labouring that point too much, I think that Mr Rudd is increasingly becoming a very worthwhile heir to that appalling legacy of financial promiscuity and fiscal profligacy. Mr Rudd wants to be all things to all people—just like the government in the Hawke-Keating years. Recently, Mr Rudd went to Queensland and promised $408 million for the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme. Then he went to Perth and promised $30 million for various water projects there. I have also heard that he promised to hand out $100 million in resource royalties to the scandal-plagued Western Australian government. In Adelaide, he promised $160 million for the Spencer Gulf desalination plant. In Canberra, he promised a $500 million clean coal fund and $25 million more for the CSIRO. In Townsville, he promised $95 million for a road project. In Sydney, he promised money for a Penrith fast rail project and other Sydney infrastructure. Mr Rudd believes that he can go around Australia and just throw money hither and thither and that will buy votes. He is like Tintin on a binge. He does not seem to get that, in the end, it is Australian taxpayers who pay for the binge. The history of the Labor Party when it was last in government was appalling, and Mr Rudd is picking up that great legacy very well.

I have spoken about the history of the Labor Party and I have spoken about Mr Rudd, but what about state Labor governments at the moment—in other words, Labor governments that are in power? What is their economic legacy? What are they doing? What is their performance like? Of course, it is appalling. The coalition government is in net surplus—and I will say more about that in a minute—but the incompetent state Labor governments in every state have run up an effective cash deficit of $50 billion. My friend and colleague Senator Fierravanti-Wells will be saying a little bit more about this. State Labor governments have in unison and collectively cobbled together $50 billion in deficit. That is at the same time as there are record GST payments being made to them. God knows what it would be like without those GST payments. I hate to think what it would be like. They would not only be in deficit; they would be in penury, as would the people of those states.

We had a shocking history in the Hawke-Keating years, we have Mr Rudd running around spending money like a drunken sailor and, finally, we have state Labor governments with economic policies and an economic record that are atrocious, with a collective $50 billion deficit. How does that compare with the coalition? We have no net debt—none. There was $96 billion, but we have paid it off. We did not get much credit for it. In fact, I seem to recall that every time we tried to bring in savings measures, we were opposed by the Labor Party, the Greens and the Democrats. If we had adopted their approach to economic management we would still be in deficit. But we are not. Fortunately, we have a coalition government and we are in net savings at the moment and doing very well.

Interest rates are relatively low. That has spurred homeownership and jobs and economic growth. Ordinary Australians can afford to buy homes with confidence because interest rates have remained low. Inflation remains low. What does that enable? It enables businesses to invest with confidence. When businesses invest with confidence, they employ more people—the very people the Labor Party say they look after and stand for. They say that they are their guardians. In fact, the economic growth under the coalition over the last 11 years has delivered very low inflation and an unemployment rate that is the lowest in 30 years. Most importantly, that means that the most vulnerable Australians, those who want jobs, now have jobs. That is not because of the Labor Party; it is because of the coalition’s economic management. There are international comparisons I could make. Over the last few years there has been a huge rise in GNP per capita. Wealth in this country has grown by 50 per cent in the last 10 years. Again, that is no thanks to the opposition. There has been huge growth in wealth in this country, great investment growth and great jobs growth.

There is a saying in parliament: ‘A million here, a million there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.’ Mr Rudd may think he has some sort of Midas touch, but the Labor Party has no such gift. The economic record of the ALP clearly demonstrates a talent for producing not gold but a rather smellier product. The Leader of the Opposition is on a bender. He is on a spending spree that is clearly designed to purchase the next election. But the money that the member for Griffith is so cavalierly throwing around the community rightly belongs to other people. It belongs to the people who have earned it. It belongs to the taxpayers of this country. The hundreds of millions that his own party leader is splurging, albeit in theory, puts the lie to Senator Sherry’s claim to, and appeal for, fiscal discipline. In the words of Shakespeare, my colleague from Tasmania ‘doth protest too much, methinks’.

What we have here is nothing more than a transparent attempt to score very cheap political points. The Australian Labor Party is trying to have it both ways. Senator Sherry talks the talk of economic responsibility, but at the same time his party leader walks the walk of a big budget blow-out. Let us not forget, the only thing standing between the member for Griffith and the Treasury of this country is the ballot box.

The ancient Roman god Janus was portrayed as a figure with two faces, each pointing in the opposite direction. For this reason the term ‘Janus faced’ came to signify hypocrisy. I am confident that the Australian people will see through the Janus faced economic platform of the Australian Labor Party. With an appalling legacy under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments, with the profligacy of Mr Rudd over the last couple of months and the absolutely appalling display from state Labor premiers, and with a $50 billion deficit in total among the state Labor governments, there is no hope for the Labor Party if they ever get hold of the Treasury benches of this country—indeed, there is no hope for the people of this country.