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

I stand here reflecting on the 11 years of the Howard government and I say I am a proud Liberal, I am a proud Victorian, I am a proud Australian and I am proud of what the Howard government achieved with regard to veterans affairs, aged care, defence and the wellbeing of the Australian community and all the things that were good about this nation over those 11 years. It is about time somebody stood in this place and said, ‘We are proud of the 11 years of the Howard-Costello government.’ I am proud to be a member of the coalition team that is Her Majesty’s opposition and I am also proud of the legacy of the years that were dominated by the good governance of the Howard-Costello government—let us not forget that.

Phyllis Diller said about her husband, ‘Something terrible happened to me last night.’ The question was asked, ‘What was that?’ and she said, ‘Nothing.’ That is exactly what has happened since this government came to office. Something terrible happened in November last year: the Rudd government was elected and nothing has happened since then—nothing has happened on groceries, nothing has happened on petrol, nothing has happened on housing, nothing has happened on rentals and nothing has happened on interest rates. That is what this is all about. When the Rudd government were in opposition, they led the Australian people to believe that they could do something about all these things. The great disappointment, the great uncertainty and the great collapse of confidence are all about the fact that the Rudd opposition led the Australian people to believe that they could actually do something about all these things. The Australian community is soured and disappointed that nothing has happened to this point under the Rudd government.

When the Prime Minister spoke at the National Press Club today, he said, ‘If I offer you some money, will you listen to my Ruddspeak, will you listen to what I have to say about this issue?’—which was another rehash of his education proposals. The Australian community is saying: ‘No way. No chance. No, Mr Rudd, we have gone far enough now. We’ve listened. We’re looking for you to do something, anything, that is going to impact on our lives today not in 10 years time.’ The Prime Minister passed up a golden opportunity today at the National Press Club to outline his government’s strategy for meeting the economic challenge faced by Australia and the Australian people. All he could do was tell us that Australia is not immune to the global impact of the fallout from the United States subprime mortgage meltdown. He pointed out that, while Australia’s growth in gross domestic product is down to less than two per cent at present, countries such as the United States, Canada and Japan are all in negative territory. He could not quite bring himself to admit that this could be the result of the underlying strength of the Australian economy, which was built up, as I said, over 11 years of cohesive governance.

The Prime Minister failed to mention how his government intended to help ordinary Australians who struggle with higher food and petrol prices, increased council and water rates and generally increased costs of living. Gippsland Water customers in my electorate of McMillan learned recently that their water rates are going to increase by 71 per cent over the next four years. How is he going to help young working families in areas like Pakenham as they struggle to meet higher and higher payments, including higher and higher housing costs, higher and higher household costs and higher and higher costs that they know run right across their community? How is he going to help retirees and pensioners in communities such as Wonthaggi and Inverloch, many of them finding their superannuation investments falling in value by the day? They have just had a report on the condition of their superannuation, and it is not good. How is the emissions trading scheme going to address the concerns of thousands of power industry workers—and the union movement should be listening to this today—in the Latrobe Valley who are worried about their future and their children’s future because of the possible impact of this emissions trading scheme proposed by the Labor government?

Once again, these people have to face uncertainty. Tax cuts and increased welfare payments introduced in the May budget have long been swallowed up by a whole range of rising prices and charges. These working families—real working families—pensioners, retirees and those on welfare payments want to hear from the government what it intends to do to help them now. They need to know that their government is not just sitting on its hands and hoping things will get better in time for the next election. (Time expired)

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