Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, it appears that Labor is embarking on an exercise of filibustering. I think everybody around this place knows now that the government, the Greens and Independents are in negotiations to try to stitch up a deal. As a result, this package of legislation—which so urgently needed to be passed by last Friday, otherwise the country would go to rack and ruin—is being delayed by the wilful actions of the government. I want to put that on record because it is becoming quite obvious that rather than contributions by way of question and answer, which is normally the committee way in this place, we are getting speeches. Given that we have already had two speeches—one was particularly mischievous—I need to place, from the coalition point of view, a few things on the record. Do we say the economic circumstances that Australia finds itself in now are worse than they would otherwise have been but for Labor’s hand on the lever over the past 12 months? We absolutely say yes to that: Labor has made the problem worse.

Why do we say to that? Remember that at the last election—we accept we lost it; we accept that—our policy was: go for growth. In his election speech at the time, Mr Rudd thundered that the reckless spending that the coalition were proposing must stop. That money was out of a surplus—but that reckless spending must stop! Indeed, the coalition had so overheated the economy, we were told, that we had to hoover out of the economy an extra $20 billion by way of taxation in the May budget. Labor kept on with the mantra that we had recklessly overheated the economy; they said it time and time again.

What are we debating today? We are debating injecting billions and billions of dollars into the economy. In fact, it is all very well for Labor and the Greens to be talking about side issues like insulation but the stimulus package comes with a bill of $200 billion attached to it—$9,500 per man, woman and child. So I say to those listening: the $950 cheque that you may get if this package passes will be a positive for you, but, as for the negative, it will be a $9,500 debt plus interest accruing year by year on the other side of the ledger. Let us say you go to a pawnbroker with your watch and the pawnbroker says to you, ‘I’ll give you $950 for that.’ You then ask, ‘If I want to redeem that watch, how much would I have to pay?’ and the pawnbroker says, ‘$9,500 plus interest.’ I reckon most people would walk out of the premises and go to somewhere where they could get a better deal.

I say to the people of Australia that, whilst they might be getting a sugar-coated pill—something that initially tastes sweet, looks good—there is a very, very bitter centre which will leave a lasting taste in the economic mouth of this country, and that is the $200 billion debt that will be left to our children. Just keep in mind that it took the Hawke-Keating era 13 years to run up a debt of $96 billion. It took 10 years during a mining boom to pay it off. Within 13 months—not 13 years—Mr Rudd has budgeted for this country to go into $200 billion worth of debt—twice as much as the Hawke-Keating era and that debt took 13 years to run up. From 1996, it took us 10 years to pay it off. How long will it take us to pay off $200 billion? The government cannot answer it; Treasury could not answer it. We were told, ‘When business somehow gets better.’

Paying bonuses to people is an appropriate thing to do when your business is running well. When there is a surplus, you give back and you share the profitability amongst your workers or your fellow Australians. But how many people, as their businesses are going out the backdoor financially, knock on the door of their banker and say, ‘I need an extension on the overdraft so I can pay a bonus’? Most bankers would say, ‘I don’t think that is a good investment for the long term of your business, let alone the long term of the workers in your business, because it is more likely that you will have to shut down earlier than you otherwise would have had to.’

So we make no apologies for saying that the problems we face as a country today are worse because of the knee-jerk reactions of this government. And just keep in mind that the Investing in Our Schools Program, which was part of the ‘reckless spending’ that Labor axed out of their last budget, has now been reintroduced under another name. It is somehow no longer reckless if you borrow the money for it. But, if you pay for it out of surpluses, somehow that is reckless. Remember the solar rebate—promised, axed, now reintroduced?