Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

We know that the prospect of re-regulating interest rates is not the only economic thought-bubble that the opposition has come up with this month. I think it was quite extraordinary to observe the shadow finance minister recently appear to advocate some form of government intervention in relation to the dollar. I think everybody ought to know that Australia’s floating currency has, for more than a quarter of a century, served our nation well. Yet we see Mr Robb—supposedly one of the dries—coming out and saying that we should be looking at ways to impact on the dollar. It is interesting. I wonder what the former finance minister, Senator Minchin, would have thought about Mr Robb’s ideas. What was even more interesting was reading what the opposition colleagues thought about this. One is quoted in the Australian as saying:

“This is certainly not Coalition policy … this was just Joe being Joe.”

and another as saying:

“Joe and Andrew should wear tie-dye shirts and flares because they’re stuck in the ’70s,” …

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