Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We have seen the priorities of this government on display over the last 48 hours, and the Australian people have seen them as well. This is a government that cannot work out whether their biggest priority is to decide when to tear down their Prime Minister or how to tear down a statutory independent officeholder. They are going around the corridors of this building saying, 'Shall we do it this week or shall we do it next week or should be wait until after the budget?' There are little minions all around the building deciding on timing and when they should tear down the Prime Minister of this nation and there are other people deciding on how to tear down a professor of law who holds an independent statutory office.

The Prime Minister showed at question time that he just does not get it. He stands at the despatch box and says, 'We don't agree with the Human Rights Commission president.' That is not the point. The former government did not agree with things the Human Rights Commission did either, but we did not try to tear down somebody who has an important role in the Australian legal system, whose independence is vital and important to Australia's legal system, whose independence has been sacrosanct and respected by governments of both persuasions in the past—but not by this government.

The Prime Minister comes in here and says, 'We are more focused on real issues, important to the Australian people.' Well, guess what? Good governance is important to the Australian people. Honesty and integrity are important to the Australian people—and the Australian people know they do not get it from this Prime Minister. They also understand that, when this government talk about issues important to the Australian people, there is nothing they least like to talk about than their unfair budget—their unfair budget which has seen the Australian principle of fairness thrown out by this Treasurer; their unfair budget which has seen confidence smashed right throughout the Australian economy.

I was watching Senate estimates before—as one does—and I saw the Minister for Finance plaintively pleading with the estimates committee and telling them that absolute confidence is high. 'There's nothing to see here,' he said, 'Confidence is going well.' He obviously was not aware of the evidence of the Governor of the Reserve Bank. I am a bit worried: the Governor of the Reserve Bank is an independent statutory officeholder and he has given evidence that the government will not like. He told the House of Representatives Economics Committee:

We have a significant lack of confidence —I think more in the business community than among households—to expand, invest, hire and innovate. To my mind, that pervasive sense of caution and feeling you do not want to take a risk is the thing I worry about most when it comes to getting growth.

That was the Governor of the Reserve Bank giving evidence before the House of Representatives Economics Committee. The same day, he gave evidence that he did not advise the cabinet about the federal budget, unlike what had been leaked out by the government; unlike what had been briefed out of the cabinet room by the government. They were caught out by the evidence of the Governor of the Reserve Bank, for whom we on this side of the House have respect. We on this side of the House respect the office of Governor of the Reserve Bank as well as the individual, just like we respect the office of every single statutory independent officeholder and just like we respect the importance of fairness and confidence in the Australian economy.

The fact is that this government has overseen a situation where we now have 795,000 unemployed people right across the country—the highest level since 1994. There are more unemployed people in Australia today than at any time since 1994. This government inherited a situation where Australia had lower unemployment than the United States, and now we have higher unemployment than at any time during the global financial crisis. And they claim good economic management! They claim that confidence is high. They claim that they are creating economic growth, when they know that growth is below trend and—as independent analysis shows—will continue below trend on this Treasurer's watch, because this Treasurer has seen confidence smashed.

We saw confidence begin to fall in the lead-up to the budget when the Treasurer was flagging emergencies and crises and all the cuts he would need to make. We saw confidence fall even further, and go through the floor, when the Australian people actually saw the budget for the first time, and they lost confidence in this Treasurer and this Prime Minister. The Australian people lost confidence in the Prime Minister and the Treasurer last May, just as their party room lost confidence in them this week. They walk around the corridors saying, 'Maybe we should let down the budget and then we should take over. Or maybe we should strike first so they don't make another mistake in the budget.' We know these conversations are occurring. We know this is a dying government at war with itself. But the Australian people want a government focused on the real issues—focused on unemployment and focused on a fairer Australia. (Time expired)

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