Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I must say that I have been absolutely amazed at the arrogance of the opposition this week in question time. Senator Feeney made the point yesterday: when are the opposition going to deal with the issue of the economy? It is the big issue facing the whole global community, yet question time was being taken up with anything but the economy. We have this born-to-rule arrogance on the other side. I take the view that the opposition are in an absolute time warp. You refused to accept that global warming was a reality, and you are now refusing to accept that the economic crisis that is facing economies all around the world is a reality. You only have to listen to the contributions here today on the issue of a deficit. There is absolute incompetence and absolute denial of the economic factors facing this community.

You really want to hark back to the theories of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman that the government should do nothing. All you want to do is say that the budget should stay in surplus and should stay there forever. That is the argument you are putting up. It does not matter that all other countries in the world facing this problem are setting about stimulating their economies, with decisive government intervention to ensure that their communities, their workforces and their families have a future in terms of some security. This Labor government will not stand by idly and watch while this economy is driven into the ground by government incompetence. We will deal with it fairly, we will deal with it effectively and we will deal with it decisively. We will not repeat the incompetence of the last Liberal government.

You go back and claim this great historic economic credibility. Let me tell you about your economic credibility. Under Menzies you allowed this country to plod along with no major economic intervention or change for the good for decades. You plodded along on the sheep’s back under Menzies. And under Howard we had a decade of lost opportunity, when we had the mining boom to build the future of this economy. And what did you do? You laid back and let the market rip and did nothing in terms of positive intervention to ensure that we built for the future. The Labor government will not do that. We will ensure that in the face of a global economic crisis the government acts decisively, that the government acts responsibly, and we will look after the communities of Australia. We will not argue about some theoretical point about maintaining a budget deficit, which you are arguing here is a great, great evil. If a budget deficit means keeping communities at work and keeping our economy ticking along, then we will take a budget deficit in the interests of this nation.

It is absolute nonsense for you to argue here that there is no economic problem that requires a government to make a change in its economic policy in terms of the budget. In fact, your line is being criticised by some of the economists who you quote all the time, your favourite economists. Look at Chris Richardson of Access Economics on Lateline last night. What did Chris Richardson say? He said:

The debate about deficits is a silly one.

As silly as the performance of the Liberals here today. He went on:

It’s a politicians’ debate. They’re the ones who’ve drawn the line in the sand about deficits being evil. We don’t want deficits to be a habit, but we want them to help and we do need them now.

We need intervention in the economy in the interests of the nation, and yet you sit back with your silly carping views, your born-to-rule arrogance and your arguments that are in the past. You do not accept the reality of the global economic— (Time expired)