Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It is easy to be fooled listening to that Scottish brogue as it rolls out platitudes about how the government is going to fix up the country. But it masks a dark heart, and one we have seen before: the dark heart of socialism. Socialism has failed all over the world, yet it is on the ascendancy in the Rudd government. Yesterday we saw Senator Cameron asking questions of Senator Carr. We have seen Senator Marshall asking questions. The socialists are on the march, and their mantra has not changed for decades. It is about finding something that makes money and creates jobs and prosperity and taxing the heart out of it. Mark my words: this is a government that is intent on finding those companies that dare make a profit and ripping the cash out of them to put back into its government, which has proven over and over again that it cannot manage public finances.

Let us put this in perspective. Senator Cameron attacks the record of the previous government. The Howard government took 10 years to pay back Labor’s $96 billion debt. The debt it took 10 years to pay back is what this government is going to rack up in the next two years.