Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It could have been the Assistant Treasurer. He could have been considered. In addition to the Assistant Treasurer, they could have considered the US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. He is facing the challenge of finding no less than US$3 trillion, at current exchange rates around A$2.9 trillion, in new deficit cuts to make sure that the US credit rating will not be downgraded any further. Then we have Giulio Tremonti, the incumbent Italian finance minister who has presided over that country's credit rating downgrading. Italy, as we know, currently carries a public debt of €1.9 trillion, or A$2.56 trillion, a portion of which must be refunded each year through the sale of government bonds. Then we have the Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, who is staring down the barrel of the financial gun and relies on the agreement of the European Union to ensure that the Greek economy does not experience a total collapse.

Even more financially stable countries such as Germany, France and Japan all face the challenge of protecting their own economic stability by bailing out other countries and dealing with the consequences of significant natural disasters which require huge financial reserves to complete their individual rebuilding task. So, compared with the rest of the world, Australia is indeed a fortunate country, with its continuing mining boom, but we must not take the situation for granted or be complacent. Our current circumstances do not mean that this government should think it can have an open chequebook for the things it is trying to ram through this parliament, including the introduction of a carbon tax. Our current circumstances should not be taken for granted, and it is the responsibility of this government to ensure that the necessary measures are taken to increase Australia's productivity, particularly in the manufacturing and service industries.

I know Senator Mason will be surprised by this, but the Treasurer, Mr Swan, has clearly benefited from the heavy lifting done by the former Howard-Costello government. We know it took the former Treasurer, Peter Costello, 10 years to pay back the $96 billion Labor debt from the Hawke-Keating years.

Honourable senators interjecting—