Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Coonan, what you have to do is get over it. All we heard throughout most of her contribution is that she alleges that the Labor government has somehow or other adopted coalition policy. If the coalition are so good, why are they not in power? Why did the people kick them out so comprehensively in November last year? If they are so good, why are they not still in office? Even the Prime Minister lost his own seat at the last election. In this, a period of unprecedented economic prosperity the Prime Minister lost his seat. The last and only other Prime Minister to lose his seat at an election was Stanley Melbourne Bruce during a recession. So why did they get kicked out if they were so flaming good? I will tell you why. It is because the people knew that they were vandals. They are the economic vandals, not us.

I will have an opportunity in a moment to highlight exactly what they did in their 11 years in power. I was interested in one thing in Senator’s Bernardi’s contribution. I had my office look up that famous Jesuit priest and how he was advising Phillip II of Spain. As I think you might have been reminded by Senator Bernardi, Mr Acting Deputy President, Phillip II of Spain was one of those great architects of the Spanish Armada and somehow seemed to lose a lot of his gold and silver out of South America. But what this great Jesuit was advising Phillip II of Spain to do was to rein in public debt and also that: ‘The king should reduce his favours to his supporters.’ Does that sound familiar, Senator Bernardi? Maybe we should have highlighted that to the Auditor-General, because look at what you did in those last years of government: the regional rorts that were so spectacularly carried out by your government.