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

Let me say at the outset of my contribution to the motion on taxpayer money that this government has nothing to hang its head in shame over. We are a government which tackled the deepest global recession since the Great Depression, we are a government which set about supporting 210,000 jobs in this economy and we are a government which, through the initiatives that we undertook, increased the level of GDP by three-quarters of one per cent. We are a government which has taken on the challenges, and we have done that with a number of initiatives to make sure that we have quality, adequacy and efficiency in our transport, communications, energy, education and health infrastructure systems. We have moved on higher education and we have moved on innovation.

This is where money has been spent, money that was not spent during 10½ years of the Howard government lying back and doing nothing, 10½ years of economic incompetence and 10½ years of lost opportunities. We have taken the steps to make sure that the schoolkids of this country have decent accommodation—something you did not care about. You did not care whether they could get out of the sun. You did not care whether they had a school hall. You did not care whether they had any language skills. You did not care whether they had any science labs. We do; Labor do. Labor want a decent society; we want a good society. We want a society in which everyone gets a fair go, not just the mining magnates that are pouring money into the coalition for its election purposes. We want a fair go for the children of this country, we want a fair go for the mums and dads and we want a fair go for communities both here and in the regions. We want a fairer society. We want a decent society. That is why, when faced with a $210 billion downward revision of taxation receipts as a result of the global recession, we decided to move. We decided to act decisively.

What did the opposition say? The opposition said: ‘We should wait and see. We should let the market rip. We should let workers lose their employment. We should let workers get put on the dole. We should let families suffer because we want the market to resolve this.’ We as a government knew the market would not resolve this. That is why we took the action that we did. We took action to ensure that working families were looked after and that working families had income immediately and jobs in the medium term. That is what we did. We supported the income of households through fiscal stimulus. We had shovel-ready infrastructure in place and we moved to create jobs. We had longer term nation-building projects that were absolutely essential to build a strong and productive economy for the future—something the Howard-Costello government never, ever did.

With this massive contraction in the world economy, with eight out of 10 of our trading partners contracting in 2009, we took that early and decisive action. We stimulated demand to make sure more Australians were in work. As I said, we invested in roads, rail, ports and broadband to boost productivity and growth because we understand the role of government—something that the coalition does not understand. The role of government is to step in and ensure that the economy continues when the market fails, yet we have a coalition that says, ‘Everything will be okay; we’ll sit back and we’ll wait to see what happens.’ We were not prepared to go down that path. We decided in the last budget to invest in roads, rail, ports, broadband and infrastructure, to invest in clean energy initiatives and to give first homeowners a fiscal hand-up. Many young homeowners would not have houses without that initiative of this government. We always had a deficit exit strategy in place.

In this budget, we have continued to invest in families through personal income tax cuts where a worker on $50,000 will be $450 better off. We have fairer and simpler tax returns. We are supporting banking competition to make the banking area more competitive, after-hours access to general practitioners, GP superclinics, training more doctors and allied health professionals and a COAG agreement on the National Health and Hospitals Network. We are also making sure we build for the future by giving ordinary working-class Australian kids an opportunity to get an apprenticeship—something that was never done under the Howard government.

Yet what do we get from those opposite? We get a scare campaign on behalf of their mates in the mining industry. The scare campaign is that the mining industry will be doomed under this government’s approach to making sure that they pay their fair share. You have to remember that the mining industry are making huge profits—$90 billion a year. Yet what the government gets back to invest in our schools and in our health system is minuscule. This lot on the other side want to make sure that the chief executive officer of Anglo American can pick up his $1.5 million a year and that we cannot make any improvements for our school kids. Anglo American’s profit is $511 million a year. It is our resources that we should be getting a return on.

BHP Billiton’s profit in 2008 was $15.39 billion. The chief executive gets $10.399 million a year—some people do not earn that in a lifetime and he gets that a year. This lot opposite have money coming into their election campaign to run their big scare campaign in support of the richest players in the country. They are arguing that we should not get back a fair share of the tax to provide for our infrastructure, for our schools, for our health and for our pensioners. We will not accept that position. Some of that $15.39 billion profit should come back to ordinary Australians.

At the peak of the boom in 2008, Rio Tinto earned $10.194 billion. Its chief executive officer is on a pay of $5.59 billion, no million—I nearly did a ‘Barnaby’ there, sorry. Xstrata’s profit at the peak of the boom was $7.249 billion and its chief executive earned $5.5 million. I want some of that money in our schools. I want some of that money in our education. I want some of that money in superannuation for ordinary Australians. That is what we stand for. That is what Labor stands for—not the scare tactics and scare campaigns of the lot on the other side. We stand for a fair and decent society—a society that can deliver for ordinary Australian families.

The richest men in Australia are running a campaign against this government. Why are they rich? They are rich because they have our resources. Forbes has Twiggy Forrest, CEO of Fortescue Metals, as being worth $5.7 billion on its list of richest Australians. One individual is worth $5.7 billion, yet those on the other side are running a scare campaign that none of that should come back to ordinary Australian families—that ordinary Australian families should not be living in dignity in retirement, that they should not get their superannuation lifted, that they should not get decent health services, that they should not get decent education and that you should let the market rip and let the billionaires in the mining industry stay as they are.

When you hear them argue for the mining industry, always remember Clive Palmer. He has had a meteoric rise since he was a property developer, and back when he pushed Joh Bjelke-Petersen for Canberra. That was his start. He has handed $850,000 in funding to the coalition. Why would they not be standing up there denying children decent schools? Why would they not be standing up there denying decent roads to the community? Why would they not be standing up there doing what they are doing—that is, continuing an unfair tax system in this country? They are playing up to their paymasters—the mining companies that are pouring money into the coalition to try and stop this tax, and to try and keep their unfair position in this country. That is not a position that we are prepared to tolerate.

Let us go back to some reality in relation to this country’s finances. I ask any of the speakers who are going to follow me to look at the budget papers and to look at chart 1 in Budget Paper No. 1. That shows that we will be the only country with a positive GDP in three years time. Germany, Canada, Italy, France, Japan, the UK and the US will be nowhere near our fiscal position. Our debt is the lowest amongst advanced countries, and as a percentage of GDP we are the envy of the world. Let me tell you what the experts say—not what is said by Senator Barnett or Senator Joyce, the failed shadow minister, not them—the people who understand how the economy works. What did Governor Stevens say on 1 March at the ASIC summer school in 2010? He said:

We can come out of this episode as the country that didn’t have to buy their banks, where government finances are in terrific shape, where the ... debt ratio will peak at 10 per cent of GDP, with a strong regulatory framework, didn’t have to do very unconventional monetary and fiscal measures, the regular measures applied liberally worked, worked a treat actually ... how many other countries are on that list?

There are issues when you move to intervene to help ordinary workers. You do have problems from time to time. But what does the Governor of the Reserve Bank have to say? The governor says that our finances are in ‘terrific shape’, that we are the envy of the rest of the world.

What does Kyran Curry, from the credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s have to say? He said:

The deficits and additional borrowings do not alter the sound profile of Australia’s public finances, which remain among the strongest of its peer group.

I have more that I could go on with. But just let me contrast our position of fiscal responsibility—of economic responsibility, of looking after ordinary Australians—with the rabble that are the opposition. How many shadow finance ministers have they had in the last period of time? Peter Dutton, member for Dickson: gone. Joe Hockey, member for North Sydney: gone. Senator Helen Coonan: sacked to put in Senator Barnaby Joyce. What an absolute joke. And now Senator Barnaby Joyce has been sacked because he is so incompetent and we now have Andrew Robb. What a rabble this lot are. (Time expired)