Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am just coming to that. Thank you very much. Over the next five years, because of the economic parameters left to them by the Howard-Costello government, the new government is estimating a surplus of something like $96 billion. That is a curious figure, because that is the exact same amount that the Labor Party left us when we came to government, only it was not a surplus; it was a $96 billion deficit. Over the next five years, because of Peter Costello and John Howard, this lot—this Labor government—will have a $96 billion surplus.

We have got rid of the so-called luxury car tax, thank heavens. On behalf of the people of regional Australia, I thank the Senate for that courageous action. If we can get rid of this stupidity by throwing this out in the Senate, that would be great for all of those people waiting in the corridors in hospitals in Queensland. But if we do that, what is going to be the financial impact that Senator Sterle’s kind interjection reminded me of? It will have an impact of $3 billion, $4 billion or $5 billion over the next five years. So instead of inheriting a $96 billion surplus over the next five years, the Labor Party—and let me get my handkerchief out—will only have a $91 billion surplus.

I stress again that this is what was left to Labor by the Howard-Costello government: a $96 billion surplus over the next five years. When we took office, due to Labor’s well-known mismanagement, we inherited a $96 billion deficit, one that had to be repaid over the next nine years of the Howard government. Even in the year that we took over—and this was hidden in the pre-election rhetoric by Mr Keating—there was a $10 billion deficit in the annual account. Every year for the first three, four or five years of the Howard government, we had to find $7 billion, $8 billion or $9 billion just to pay off the interest on the debt that Labor left us.

We have the stupidity now of Mr Rudd and Mr Swan saying that they are fiscal conservatives. Talk is very cheap and easy. Spin is particularly easy for the Labor Party. They have become masters of the spin. But look at the reality. Have a look at Mr Whitlam’s government and see what happened there. They just about broke the country in three or four short years. Have a look at the Hawke and Keating government. They left a $96 billion deficit. You simply cannot trust Labor with money. Have a look all the state governments at the present time. They are all, regrettably, Labor state governments. Look at their big spends.