Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate you, Mr Deputy President, on your election. In the six years that I have been here it has always been Senator Hogg in that position, so I am pleased to see you in it instead. After having heard Senator Fifield, I see an opposition that while in government must have simply believed its own spin. It got so caught up in spinning itself as an economic manager that it forgot to manage the economy. Now that they are in opposition they want to simply continue that spin with a whole range of nonsense about a slowing economy.

I want to address a couple of issues to do with the economy. Senator Fifield blatantly misled the Senate about the state of the economy. I want to get back to the tax cuts that were just delivered by this government. I want to get back to the state that you left the economy in for this government. You did not mention the many interest rate rises that you had. You did not mention the record inflation rate that we had when you left government. Your spin and the couple of issues that you want to rely on do not paint the full picture.