Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yet what are we doing, Senator Joyce? We are dealing with one of the greatest challenges that any government has to face, a social challenge, an economic challenge and an environmental challenge that we are prepared to take up—something that you did not have the bottle to deal with when you were in opposition.

So what happened to Senator Joyce? The now weak Leader of the Opposition actually had some courage when he was in opposition and he put Senator Joyce in his place. He said, ‘We are going to do something about the environment.’ When Malcolm Turnbull became leader—when the Australian public threw you out on your neck—he decided he had to concede the nonsense that was espoused by Senator Joyce. He had to concede and he had to give in because he is a weak leader, because he shows no courage, no strength and no conviction on behalf of the Australian public.

We make no apology for dealing with the global financial crisis or global warming. We want a sustainable economy. We want a sustainable future for the kids in Australia. We want them to look back at what we have done and say: ‘You did the right thing. You looked after the economy and you looked after what we need, which is a sustainable future.’ That is what the Australian Labor Party is about.

We have also set about supporting the retail sector. No other country in the world has a retail sector with the results that our retail sector has now. Those results are keeping Australians in jobs and are helping families through the assistance that we have given them. We are a government of vision. We are a government of courage. We are a government of conviction. Compare that to the rabble we have over on the other side, a rabble who cannot even keep their people in question time; the Western Australians walked out of question time in the House of Representatives yesterday. Unfortunately they do not have the courage of their convictions in the Senate. I am still waiting for the thank you from the Western Australian senators for the great job that Minister Ferguson has done in delivering the Gorgon project. It is about time you said thank you to the Labor Party for its economic competence and the delivery that we are providing for Australians in this country.

What else have we done? We have assisted pensioners. We have increased the pension—something you would not do, something you have walked away from. In a period when the money was rolling in, you ignored the pensioners of Australia. It took a Labor government to increase the pension to a reasonable level in this country. The problem, under the Howard government, was that they were ignored. The Howard government were too busy looking after the big end of town. They were too busy looking after their mates in big business. They were too busy turning a blind eye to the massive executive salaries, the golden parachutes and the golden hellos. There was more than a decade of absolute incompetence from the coalition.

When we came to government we had to deal with the failures of the coalition government. There was an absolute abject failure to bring investment into this country. You failed to deliver on innovation and industry, the thing that builds productivity and builds wealth for the future. You failed on productivity even though you tried to race to the bottom. Work Choices was your weapon against working people. Even though you were all Work Choices warriors, you do not want to hear the name mentioned anymore. ‘It’s gone; put it behind you,’ they all claim, ‘It’s not there any more, and we won’t go there again.’ The Australian public knows that you are Work Choices warriors and the only way you can deal with the economy is to try and force workers in this country to have lower wages and fewer conditions and give the bosses more profits at the expense of workers and do nothing about reinvesting in the economy. That is the legacy of the Howard-Costello government.

No wonder Peter Costello abandoned you lot. No wonder Peter Costello does not want to have any thing to do with you. He knows that you are a rabble. He knows that you are absolute economic incompetents. He wants to try to get out quick because he does not want another session in a party room that cannot even think about a policy issue. This country failed under the coalition. We lacked competitive advantage. We actually failed. Here we are, with arguments from the other side saying what brilliant economic managers they are. There was a decade of lost opportunities under the Howard government. It was a decade when the money was rolling in. You had the opportunity to build for the future. You had the opportunity to build our schools, to build our skill base, to build our industries and to intervene in the economy with the massive wealth that was flowing in. What did you do? You did nothing. You have left this country ill-prepared for the global financial crisis. It is only Labor that has the courage, the vision and the conviction to deal with the global financial crisis. It is no wonder that when the public thinks of the coalition they think about failure—a number of failed leaders since we have been in government, a failed leader and a failed party room with no policies to deal with the issues that are facing the Australian public.

As we have raised the issue of Work Choices, I just want to place on record my congratulations to the workers at Cochlear who have voted today to be represented by the AMWU, to be represented by a union against all of the intimidation that the company could put in place against those workers. Under Labor, workers now have the right to join a union, to act collectively and to be recognised. Not only are we making all these advances on the economic front; we are making advances on the social front as well.

You must accept that we are doing a fantastic job for Australia. The International Monetary Fund, the IMF, has again commended Australia on its response to the global recession. It notes that Australia has the best performing economy of any developed economy. That is what the IMF is saying. They are saying: ‘You’ve got it right. You’re doing it well.’ And what do we get when this rabble across the chamber come in here? The rabble criticise, carp and are negative—that is what happens. But the IMF have got it right. The IMF know a good government when they see it. They know that the Australian government is a good government, delivering for the Australian economy, delivering for the Australian public and delivering for communities all around Australia. I put the challenge to you again: go back to your states and tell them that the spending should stop, that the money should be ripped out, that the jobs should disappear. You will have even less credibility that you have got to here and you will have even less credibility than your failed leader, Malcolm Turnbull. (Time expired)