Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

When you add the National Broadband Network and the Ruddbank—and Mr Swan says that he will spend more if he thinks he needs to—that is the figure. When will it be paid back? I will tell you exactly when it is going to be paid back: when a coalition government gets back in. Debt has only ever been paid back by coalition governments. This lot opposite will never pay it back. That is the one certainty. They have never paid back debt in 108 years and they will not pay it back now. The truth is this: Mr Rudd has absolutely no intention of paying back the debt. He will not pay it back.

Mr Rudd’s essay in the Monthlyand I have referred to this a couple of times in this chamber—is poorly written but it is interesting. He was an economic conservative but he now describes himself differently. This is his fourth transformation in public life, and I spoke about that last time. He thinks it is okay for a social democrat to have debt. It is okay. In countries in Western Europe, and in the United States, it is all right to have 10 per cent of the budget going to pay the interest bill. That is okay. That is very common in Western Europe and in the United States.

Mr Rudd is trying to change the political culture of this country. He has no intention of paying back this debt. How do I know that? Because the Labor Party has never paid back debt in 108 years—not once. The political culture of this country is what is under threat here. Every time I hear Mr Swan and Mr Rudd talk, it is about the fact that other countries are much worse off. If we go down this path and change our political culture then we will be spending 10 per cent of our budget on servicing Labor’s debt. That is what is in store for this country—structural debt that even the coalition cannot solve. If Labor gets to a debt of $300 million or so, it will take generations to pay it off; and we will not be able to do that. That is the appalling part of the Labor Party’s plan. What makes it even worse is that it will be your children and your grandchildren who will have to pay it off—and they will be paying only the interest bill. That is what this country is looking fair and square down the barrel of. How do I know that? We have had 10 Labor prime ministers and not one of them has paid back debt. Is that a coincidence? Does anyone actually think that is a coincidence? That is the DNA we are talking about—it is in their DNA. They cannot help themselves. They never pay back debt. They never have paid back debt—not once in our federal history. Every time they lose office there is more debt. They say that this debt is necessary at the moment because of the recession, but this is always the excuse and it is always the same. I read this morning that Mr Rudd is seeking a job. This is how I know that he will not—