Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have to ask ourselves what the Liberal Party would have done. Which bits of the stimulus package or the current government’s response do they regard as radical or even simply non-conservative? Would it have been the guarantee that the savings people have in their banks are safe? Would the Liberal Party have not given that? The Liberal Party certainly did not reject that proposal at the time. Would they have not given extra assistance to pensioners at the end of last year, as part of that stimulus? In fact, at the time the opposition were stridently calling for extra assistance for pensioners and there are several instances of bonuses having been given to pensioners by the Howard government, so let us assume that that response would have received approval. Would they not have increased spending on vital infrastructure in conjunction with the states? Do the Liberal Party now reject that response by the Rudd government? Do they not now agree with the idea that we give assistance to those building commercial buildings to support jobs in that sector and to support that sector generally—because we do know as a fact that one of the problems under the Howard government is that there were a lack of tradespeople in the building sector that caused great bottlenecks in our economy. So what is the opposition’s position?

There was a quote in the Adelaide Advertiser of the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, who said the problem was not going into deficit but how to get out of it later on. Its report said:

“I don’t think with these forecasts there’s any doubt that a deficit is inevitable, given the reduced tax revenues, but the one thing that is not inevitable is that a Labor Government will get out of a deficit,” he told reporters.

So our conservative Prime Minister seems well in tune with the conservative Leader of the Opposition, who has been saying that a deficit is inevitable and has asked how the Labor Party is going to get out of it. That is a fair question, and he has the response. He has the response given today by the Prime Minister, who said:

As the economy recovers, and grows above trend, the Government will take action to return the budget to surplus by:

• banking any increase in tax receipts associated with the economic recovery, while maintaining its commitment to keep tax as a share of the economy on average below the level it inherited; and
• holding real spending growth to 2 per cent a year.

That is the very specific commitment by the Prime Minister and the Labor government to restoring over the economic cycle our surplus once the crisis in global financial circles is dealt with. There is an interesting quote from John Maynard Keynes, who said, ‘The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.’ I would suggest very strongly that is the position of the opposition as of now as they cannot escape from their old ideas even though the world has changed all around them. The world has changed greatly, which the opposition continue to reject. They continue to oppose anything that the government does without a coherent economic plan of their own.

Without a coherent response, without any constructive response of their own, they are content to sit back. We have the Leader of the Opposition, who was once a merchant banker, who has been immersed in the financial situation and who should, with his shadow Treasurer, accept that the world has changed. Now who is the shadow Treasurer? I think Ms Bishop is the shadow Treasurer, but we have not heard much from her at all. You would think that with that kind of expertise we might get some sort of constructive approach to the current global financial situation, but when it suits the opposition they ignore the fact that there is any kind of global economic downturn at all. On the other hand, when it suits them, they talk about the government’s poor response without producing anything that involves a response of their own.

So the question still is: what would the Liberal Party do? I am very proud to be part of the government that has proposed a response that improves infrastructure in Australia, improves education in Australia, improves training in Australia and puts forward an environmental package that ensures that any growth will be sustainable. I am very proud that the government, in response to the economic downturn, has put forward a package that looks very firmly to the future.