John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance. This afternoon the Senate is witnessing the political theatre of the absurd, exemplified by that contribution—and I am being generous—by Senator Bernardi. The opposition, the most negative in Australian political history, has itself initiated a debate on negativity.

That same opposition, incredibly, accuses the government of negativity. Does the opposition have any capacity at all for self-assessment? Does the opposition have any understanding at all of its own shortcomings? Does it have no insight, no shame to initiate such a debate?

This is the pot calling the kettle black, Senate style. I am reminded of a poem from Maxwell's Elementary GrammarWilliam Henry Maxwell's indispensable guide to English grammar published early last century. We always hear from Senator Brandis how erudite he is—

Senator Brandis interjecting—

We do, and of course you are. So I thought I would share this poem with Senator Brandis and the Senate. It goes like this:

'Oho!' said the pot to the kettle;

'You are dirty and ugly and black!

Sure no one would think you were metal,

Except when you're given a crack.'

'Not so! not so!' kettle said to the pot;

'Tis your own dirty image you see;

For I am so clean—without blemish or blot—

That your blackness is mirrored in me.'

Of course, all the hard-bitten people around this building would say that there is no purity in politics. But there are no political points to be gained for hypocrisy either, and this MPI absolutely takes the cake for political hypocrisy, because we have seen an orgy of negativity from those opposite. The Liberal Party, led by Mr Abbott, have turned negativity into an art form. It is so mindless, so knee-jerk, so Pavlovian.

We all remember that the opposition said no to economic stimulus and safeguarding Australian jobs during the darkest days of the global financial crisis. We all know that the opposition says no to taxing big miners and no to an increase in superannuation contributions for Australian workers. The opposition says no to making big polluters pay for carbon emissions, no to a cleaner and healthier environment for future generations of Australians, no to the National Broadband Network and no to giving Australians faster and more efficient access to the worldwide web and the digital economy. The opposition says no to health reform, no to the Schoolkids Bonus, no to increased family payments, no to increased payments for pensioners and no to increased payments for students. But of course they do not stop there. The modern Liberal Party—Senator Brandis's lot—also say no to putting out any policies before the election. They say no to publishing any costings and no to telling us where their $70 billion in cuts over four years will come from to fill their infamous budget black hole. So yes, there is a pattern here: mindless, carping negativity about the government. But about their own intentions we have nothing but deliberate obfuscation and deception.

Simply put, the allegation in this matter of public importance—of government negativity—is preposterous. It just does not stand up. On the other hand, the government does have a positive agenda. The government continues to do what is necessary to keep Australia's economy strong, to look to the future, to provide opportunity to all, to have the determination to do what is right—even at the cost of short-term popularity. Our economy is healthy, strong and growing. Our books are the envy of the world's advanced economies. We avoided recession and not only saved hundreds of thousands of jobs but created jobs. Our economy is nearly 13 per cent bigger than when Labor came to office in 2007. Australia is now the 12th largest economy in the world. Since Labor came to office we have moved up three places in the rankings—passing South Korea, Mexico and Spain. For the first time in our history, Australia has a AAA credit rating from all three ratings agencies.

This was never achieved during the Howard years, and we are currently one of only seven—