Michael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

And while they continue to laugh, the evidence will stand for the rest of time. The Labor Party are the worst economic managers. It may be true that there are people in Australia who, with the passage of time, may have forgotten about Northern Tasmania having an unemployment rate of 10 per cent. There may be people who have now forgotten that, but I have not. There may be people who have forgotten about the then government’s $10 billion black hole. Every year they were in government, they were short $10 billion. Who was finance minister? It was Kim Beazley, the Leader of the Opposition. It is little wonder that investment was simply not possible. It is little wonder that further investment in the future of our country was just not possible. If it were the case that the Howard government had reduced funds to primary schools, secondary schools or our higher education sector, I would take the lecture from you, Jenny Macklin. I would do it and I would listen to you—and I may even have agreed with you.

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