Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand today proudly in the Senate to support the motion that the Rudd government’s poor economic management in the 2009-10 budget has crippled Australia’s economic future for this generation and beyond. I would like to outline some of the reasons why.

We have debt, debt and debt as far as the eye can see. We have record debts, record deficits and unemployment on the rise, big time. They are at levels not seen before in Australia’s history since World War II. The budget that has been delivered just this week reveals the very high price that will be paid by all Australians: every man, woman and child. We must think in particular of the children, the next generation, who will be paying for Labor’s reckless spending. They will be paying for the reckless spending that has occurred over the last 18 months and that was announced just two days ago.

We are headed to one million people unemployed in 2010-11—8.5 per cent unemployment—a record $58 billion deficit next year and a record net debt of at least $188 billion by 2012-13. They are all key markers of the failure of the Rudd Labor government and its inability to properly, professionally and adequately manage Australia’s economy. Fascinatingly, two-thirds of the debt owed by taxpayers in 2012-13 will be due to spending decisions taken by the Rudd government over the past 18 months.

As Tasmanians—I am a Tasmanian senator—we know that $22 billion has been earmarked in this budget for infrastructure. We know that $8 billion has been earmarked for road, rail and ports. But how much was expended south of Bass Strait? Not one dollar for Tasmania, so, despite Labor’s reckless spending, Tasmania has been dudded big time. The Leader of the Opposition in Tasmania, Will Hodgman, said that Tasmanians have been shafted and he is right. Peter Gutwein made similar comments just yesterday: we have been shafted.

In terms of Tasmania, let’s just comment in regard to a few of those concerns. In terms of the Bell Bay port, the current Minister for Infrastructure, Graeme Sturges, announced that Bell Bay would be receiving a $150 million development upgrade. This is in northern Tasmania at the mouth of the Tamar River. In fact, not only did he announce that some weeks ago but, on 27 April, he said:

TASMANIA will get $800 million of federal money to spend on road and rail …

And it goes on:

The sum had been floated late last year but yesterday agreement between the federal and state governments was announced.

Well, there you go: they had an agreement at the end of April that we would get $800 million, and what did we get? We got diddly-squat, zero, nothing. In terms of Bell Bay, this particular report from the Mercury newspaper says that they included eight hectares of land reclamation for shipping containers at Bell Bay, widening Hobart’s Brooker Highway, improving the Franklin freight corridor in the West Tamar and general road freight upgrades.

We have seen a lot of initiatives and spending, particularly north of the Bass Strait on the mainland, but in Tasmania we have missed out big-time. There is no new federal money for the Launceston Airport road. That is a goat track; there is no better phrase to describe it than ‘goat track’. It has been neglected and that is a great shame. In short, Tasmanians, like their cousins on the mainland, will get a $9,000 debt per man, woman and child. They will each have to make a $500 interest payment every year for the reckless spending of the Rudd Labor government. What have we got in return in Tasmania? Very little indeed—in terms of infrastructure, road and rail, not one cent.

Since November 2007, Labor have announced measures which have increased Commonwealth spending by $124 billion. That is an average of $225 million of new spending per day. They pretend that the destruction of our nation’s balance sheet is an unavoidable consequence of the global financial crisis, but Labor in my view, and I know in the view of many others, have lost control of our public finances. We have seen record spending, we have a record deficit and the jobless rate is on the way up, and fast. By 2012-13, that net debt figure will surge to $188 billion, and we heard in the Senate today that it could be even higher than that. That remains to be seen; it may be even higher. The interest payment will be $8 billion per year by 2012-13.

We know that it was a Labor budget because this is typical, traditional Labor. They tax and spend. We know that, in the future, taxes will be going up; interest rates will be going up; the debt, both domestic and foreign, will be going up; and unemployment is on the way up. Interestingly, the five consecutive deficits in Labor budgets will add up to $220 billion over the next five years. Labor are forecasting a 4.5 per cent GDP growth rate within two years. Goodness me! Where do they get that from? They are relying, they say, on figures from Treasury, but there are very few people who have any confidence in that figure whatsoever. They are not confident. That is very high growth. Labor are saying boom times will be back within two years or so. Come on! Let us get back to the real world. They are relying on that to say that this is the way to go and to back up their reckless spending—because that is what it is.

They have gone on this spending binge because they believe this is the way to get out of the trouble that they are in. They have inherited a legacy to die for. What legacy did the coalition leave them? We know that, at the end of November 2007, unemployment was under four per cent and that, by 30 June next year, it is headed for 8.5 per cent. We know that there was a surplus of $20-odd billion at the end of our term of government, and we know that it took over 10 years to pay back Labor’s $96 billion worth of debt. We know that this debt is going to increase fast, but the question is: how long will it take for it to be paid back? What plans do they have in place to pay back that debt?