Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am responding to the motion before the House and to the speakers who have spoken before me. There is a warning in this. The Labor Party is coming into government at a time when the Howard government—in particular, Peter Costello—has a proud record of delivery of service in this House. Those gains were hard-won by the Howard government. As I said before, that did not come easily. The first three years of pulling the financial and fiscal policy of the nation into order were very hard. There are those in this place who know that some of us on this side of the House paid a very dear price for getting this nation’s house in order when it comes to finances. I was one of those people who paid the price for the cuts we had to make and it was very difficult in Gippsland at that time. But those cuts were made and that is what drove down inflation and unemployment.

That is very important because, as some members have reflected on, the decisions that are made by the parliament and the new government affect individual families in their own homes. It is too early to criticise the new government for anything they might have done at this stage. They have a budget to produce. In that budget, they will be putting themselves on the line as to how they are going to tackle the big issues of the day such as skills shortages, which we all recognise. In a booming economy, a Rolls-Royce economy, there will be skills shortages. It does not matter what industry it is—whether it be the dairying industry or the building industry—there are skills shortages. In parts of Gippsland they can do with 60 plumbers in just one area and there is a shortage of electricians.

We recognise that there are skills shortages and this is driven by a strong economy. But it does not help the nation when the Treasurer of the country says, ‘The inflation genie is out of the bottle.’ The unions respond to that by saying, ‘If the inflation genie is out of the bottle and everything is going to go up, we are going to have to apply for higher wages.’ Politicians can show restraint and have their wages frozen, but it is a symbolic act and no-one is going to fight about it. Let us get on with the job. But, importantly, wages need to be restrained in this booming economy. There are shortages throughout the nation. As you, Mr Deputy Speaker Washer, coming from the west, would know, the shortages in the mining industry are manifest. I know that people are being hauled out of Gippsland just to drive trucks in the west, so we now have a shortage of truck drivers in our area. These things are crucially important because they affect the whole nation.

Paul Keating said he could just pull and turn the levers of inflation and unemployment at any time. He said, ‘I’ve got the levers of the nation in my hand.’ He handed them over to Peter Costello, who handled those levers very carefully for a long time on behalf of this nation. Right now those levers have gone into the hands of Wayne Swan, and the nation will be looking very carefully at how he holds them.

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