John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection from Senator Thistlethwaite. He is not concerned. David Murray, former boss of the Commonwealth Bank, former Future Fund manager, said that between the federal government and the states we are heading to a debt of half a trillion. Does half a trillion worry you, Senator Thistlethwaite? You left Queensland stone motherless broke, with its credit rating downgraded. Now South Australia's credit rating has been downgraded—broke again. You left New South Wales broke. As I said, Senator Cameron has it right: that people cannot trust you; they cannot trust you to manage money.

The funny thing is that while stimulating the economy on 7 October 2009 the Reserve Bank raised interest rates—and in November and in December. We had seven interest rate rises in a row while the government was borrowing money to stimulate the economy. Tell me this, those listening out in radio land: if you are driving your car, do you have your foot on the accelerator and pull the handbrake on at the same time? That is how stupid this fiscal policy was. You are borrowing money to stimulate the economy while the Reserve Bank is putting the brakes on. We had seven interest rate rises in a row, forcing our exchange rate up, causing enormous financial damage to rural Australia, where our exports are put together, put on the boats—where food is grown and mining carried out.