Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I too seek to take note of answers given by Senator Minchin to the Senate today. Can I say, having just listened to Senator Fifield, that those were quite extraordinary figures that he quoted: an obscene $10.85 billion being reaped out of the Australian economy, mostly from the Western Australian minerals boom—not much of it being put back into the infrastructure that is required to sustain that development in the state, but, never mind, that is all right! That $10 billion means that the levels of household debt in Australia are quite extraordinary, record levels of household debts—and an obscene current account deficit. This is all just smoke and mirrors by this government, because the chickens have really come home to roost. Seven consecutive interest rate rises under this Prime Minister’s watch, and there is the likelihood of an eighth one tomorrow. So families all around Australia, and maybe the 1,500 homeowners every week in New South Wales who are starting to have to sacrifice their houses in mortgagee-in-possession sales, might have just two people to blame: the Prime Minister and his Treasurer.

Both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer know what Australians have known for a long time—that they are paying more and more for their mortgages, and they are paying more because of the poor economic management by this government. For seven years this government has been ignoring the warnings of the Reserve Bank. Seven years ago was the first time that the Reserve Bank, in a Statement on monetary policy, started warning the Howard government about the serious skills shortage that existed in our economy. In 1999, the Reserve Bank reported the survey that was undertaken by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, saying that we had skills shortages at historically high levels. Then, in 2000, the Governor of the Reserve Bank said that skills shortages had emerged. Six years ago, the Governor of the Reserve Bank was telling this government how serious those skills shortages were becoming. And that is how long the inflationary pressures have been building in the Australian economy because of those actions—or lack of action, as it were—by this government when it comes to skills shortages.

Again, in 2004, in a Statement on monetary policy, the Reserve Bank said: ‘Business surveys suggest a broad range of firms are finding it increasingly difficult to find skilled labour—substantial increases in wages for skilled employees in construction, in the resource sectors and in some business service areas.’ Again, in 2005, in another Statement on monetary policy from the Reserve Bank, there was another warning for this government about skills shortages. Year after year, the government has continued to ignore the warnings of the Reserve Bank about the higher labour costs being imposed on the economy, all due—to quote the Reserve Bank—to skills shortages that have arisen because of this government’s inaction on the training front.

Many Australians are suffering under rising interest rates. As I say, 1,500 homeowners in New South Wales alone every week are having to sacrifice their great Australian dream to a mortgagee-in-possession sale. It is pretty obscene, I have to say. But it is more evidence of the poor economic credentials of this government.

I think it is unacceptable in the year 2006 that there are many residents, for example, in regional areas of New South Wales—and I have to include myself in this—who still are not able to access high-speed ADSL broadband services. These kinds of things are about building a nation and increasing its prosperity. We have the Howard government so obsessed with forcing through the privatisation of Telstra against the wishes of the vast majority of Australians that it has completely ignored the telecommunications needs of our community.

And, of course, on 26 April this year, we had the Minister for Finance and Administration and the Minister for Health and Ageing, like masters of the universe, out there telling us what was going to happen with Medibank Private. At the time, the Minister for Finance and Administration, Senator Minchin, said that the legislation would be introduced in the budget session. What a joke. Every day since April we have been waiting. The sale of Medibank Private has fallen apart in front of this government’s eyes. It has been the most ham-fisted attempt to get anything done that we have seen from the government to date, and there is a pretty high bar here, given some of the incompetent displays that we have seen from this government in recent months. I noticed in the television interview last weekend that, when it was pointed out to him that there had been a certain Treasurer who had had an interest rate at 22 per cent, he had completely lost his memory. Now the government is reduced to blaming bananas or the drought, as we heard from Senator Ferguson. That does not give any confidence to the homeowners who, as I say, every week are being forced into mortgagee-in-possession sales. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.