Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is almost painful to see the opposition desperately seeking a way to justify their irresponsible decisions to oppose the government’s budget measures. Who knows why they are doing this. Obviously, there are leadership tensions, faction tensions within the party and tensions between the Liberal and the National parties within the coalition. Nobody wants to say no to anyone else. Nobody in the Liberal Party is prepared to take leadership and say that the government should be permitted to pass its budget—a budget that is designed to put downward pressure on inflation.

This is sheer short-term opportunistic behaviour and the kind of knee-jerk reaction that we saw over and over again from the coalition parties in government. It is that same old pattern of behaviour when dealing with crises. They go around them and do not deal with them head-on and with long-term responsible economic management. What did we inherit from that kind of behaviour by the Liberal Party when they were in power? The highest inflation in 16 years, 10 interest rate rises in five years and decreased productivity. That is the kind of short-term, opportunistic government that left this government in the situation where we have to have a tight, tough budget to have a surplus that will put downward pressure on inflation.

Now we have the situation where, because they cannot deal with the pressures within their party, because they cannot compete with competing factions, competing Treasurers and competing leaders, they have agreed to oppose budget measures that will put additional taxes on luxury cars and on alcopops. I am amazed—