Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. As I was saying, the government’s decision to go down this path was based on the need to address this country’s difficulties created and left behind by the former government and their wanton ignoring of the Reserve Bank, which stated on many, many occasions that infrastructure was in critical need of being addressed. That is what this question is about—it is about a measure taken in the context of the overall budget. In the context of the overall budget, the former government were grossly irresponsible. Their spending was out of control, inflation has suffered because of it and interest rates have risen again and again, because the former government did not have the capacity to manage the economy. That is why the judgement was made by the Australian public in November last year.

Let’s be clear about this: there were a number of measures taken by this government in the budget, of which this was one. We stand by them and we welcome the opportunity to debate them, because the economy and the mess that has been left by those opposite is too serious for the fairytale approach being taken by those opposite. They cannot even work out whether or not inflation is a problem. They cannot even accept that they have left this country with the highest inflation rate in 16 years. It is very simple: this government have been forced to address a gallop in spending and we have had to cut back, and this is one of those measures that we have, after careful consideration, proceeded with.