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

Senator Conroy in his arrogant way interjects and says, ‘You’re not.’ We have accepted that we may well take a hit in the opinion polls, but, as the Leader of the Government in the Senate this morning in the procedural matters so foolishly told the Australian people and the Senate, the problem with the Liberal-National parties is they are looking to the long term. We plead guilty! We plead guilty because in parliament you have to look to the long term if you want to be a true national leader. It is so easy to play the short term. Senator Evans has clearly shown the Labor Party is all about playing to the short term. But I, for one, and my coalition colleagues cannot look our children and grandchildren in the eye, put our hands on our hearts and say, ‘Guess what? To make our lifestyle more comfortable today, we are going to mortgage your future by $200 billion.’ It is amazing, isn’t it?

Do you know what Mr Rudd said? ‘The economic crisis has been caused by greed and a squeeze on credit. There is too much demand on credit and as a result we have got problems.’ So how do you ease the demand on credit? By going into the marketplace and demanding an extra $200 billion! That sure is going to fix the credit squeeze! Then there is the issue of greed. If this generation has been too greedy—as it has according to Mr Rudd—tell me: how does mortgaging our children’s future indicate that we have learnt that lesson of greed? What Mr Rudd is saying is: ‘Well, sure, we’ve been greedy. What’s more, we’re going to take even more, and some poor, hapless generation down the track, when I’m no longer Prime Minister, can pay it off.’ Now, there is a definition of greed if ever there was one.

We have indicated that sensible, responsible packages are important. In the United States President Obama, with a huge election victory under his belt, had the decency to approach the Republicans, the opposition, and say, ‘Can we work together to work out a deal?’ Guess what? They did. What great leadership, what great statesmanship. That was unlike our Prime Minister’s approach. Our Prime Minister dropped something on the table and said, ‘Within 48 hours this has to be passed or else.’ We were basically misled—I am not allowed to say someone lied, because that is unparliamentary, so I will not. But the leader of the government in this place said that this had to be passed by last Friday otherwise the payments could not be made by 11 March this year.