Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader (Tasmania)) Share this | Hansard source

Deloitte Access Economics, in its latest Budget monitor, outlined the state of the global economy, which was quite positive. It says:

The rivers of gold are running, with the good news for revenues coming thick and fast:

But, even with a rosy economic backdrop, the Liberals have racked up record debt and left the budget in a far worse state than they inherited from Labor, which had a global financial crisis to contend with. Let me be clear: the government has run out of excuses for more than doubling the nation's debt. The Liberals' own figures show that, on their watch, net debt has more than doubled, to hit a record high of $354.5 billion. That's a $354.5 billion debt run up by this government. And gross debt has crashed through half a trillion dollars for the first time ever in the nation's history.

Instead of using the surge in revenue from this global upswing to help pay down their record and growing debt, this government, the Liberals, would rather give tax handouts to those who need them the least. Instead of building an economy that works for everyone, they choose tax handouts for the big end of town. Politics is all about choices, and I'm afraid to tell you that the Liberals are choosing tax concessions for the wealthy over everyday Australians, over better schools, over better hospitals and over renewable energy.

Those opposite are the worst economic managers we've ever seen. Instead of putting forward their own economic plan or policies, they would rather just fret and obsess over what we in Labor are doing in this policy space. But I guess that's what you come to expect when you have an incompetent government bereft of creditable economic or tax policy. They've been found wanting—that has been so stark and so clear about this government. The Treasurer, Mr Frydenberg, would rather run a ridiculous scare campaign about Labor's policies than come up with a policy of his own. This is quite telling from a senior member of a five-year-old coalition government. Remember the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government? They have no economic policy, and no plans for wages growth except cutting penalty rates. It has actually been a bit embarrassing watching the new Treasurer trying to walk and lie at the same time; obviously, proving to be a bit much and a bit awkward—