Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think we should dispel something that has already been brought up which obviously relates to Senator Carr. The government asked: what did the conservative side of government bring? It brought the highest level of employment, the highest level of real wage growth and the lowest inflation. It paid off the debt, it presented surpluses and it brought about the lowest interest rates. It brought about record business confidence. And now we hear that we did not prepare the government for the tough times! There were no tough times until they turned up!

Then we hear Senator Carol Brown saying, ‘The government’s priority was fighting inflation’—this is now—‘and raising interest rates.’ Well, they have done a very good job. They have met their objective. They have certainly raised interest rates—they have got that one down pat. Now we have the highest fuel prices, the highest grocery prices, record inflation, record interest rates and the lowest business confidence—and this is supposed to represent a change for the better. Let us go through the specific policies they have now.

Today we have the luxury car tax—a tax on Australian manufacturing industry in the motor vehicle industry, a tax on Australian working families and a tax on the cars that Australia produces. This is another impetus to move Australian jobs overseas, brought about by the Labor government. When I met with some of the manufacturing workers who are here today I found that they are shocked that this government is putting a tax on their workers. It is about to put Australian working families out of a job and about to start moving Australian manufacturing jobs overseas. That is what it is doing. We are seeing the sheer stupidity of putting a tax on a car that Australia produces so that Australians have to move to the cheaper ones that we import. If they do not like that they can move to the dearer ones that the Europeans bring in. This is the sort of government that we have at the moment.

The point that Senator Carr clearly espoused today is their lack of relevance and detail, their lack of ability to get to the bottom of an issue. I was fascinated when once more he asked us to refer to a website—another website. We have to refer to a website for everything in life. We have the personification of the walking website in Senator Conroy, who comes in here with his computers. We have ‘grocery watch’, we have Fuelwatch, we are going to have ‘school watch’ and, for the answers to the question about how the economy is going, we are told to refer to the website. That is the direction in which the government is going.

What has happened with education? Look at this bells and whistles show that they rolled out the other day. Wait for the big nothing that follows that—the big, vacant space of air. Look at their promises. Remember Mr Rudd, before he was Prime Minister, standing up and saying, ‘This is the toolbox of the 21st century’? Now what have we got? We have got the toolbox of the 21st century, but only half the workers are allowed to use it. Then we find that people out west, where they do not have broadband, are not allowed to use it at all. It is gimmickry, because the government have never actually done the detail, the research.

I am fascinated with what is going on with the textile industry. The nirvana for the textile industry is that everybody is going to be wearing a $1,000 pair of RM Williams boots. Well, that is something to look forward to! That is what the Labor Party has presented us with. This is just amazing. These are the geniuses who are going to give us the emissions trading scheme. Wait for this one. Wait for your manufacturing jobs when they are gone. Wait for your rural jobs when they are gone. Wait for when this economy is turned upside down because of your complete ineptness in dealing with the practicalities and the details of managing an economy.

The emissions trading scheme is where the Australian people decide that they have had enough of you, because they can see this one coming. As I say, when poverty walks in the door, love will fly out the window. People’s affection for the Labor government, for the lack of detail and for this gimmickry that we have had to put up with will finish the day the emissions trading scheme comes on board.

Question agreed to.