Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

It is a gold medal performance in incompetent government. The September Sensis Consumer Report found that only 32 per cent of Australians are confident of their financial prospects for the year ahead. That is 29 points below what it was when the Prime Minister took office. Since November, Australia has had the largest drop in consumer confidence amongst all OECD nations and has the second lowest level of consumer confidence, behind Spain. The Prime Minister cannot pass the buck on this one. The other countries are in the same world environment; the other countries are facing the same types of challenges; but in Australia consumer confidence has dropped more than it has in other OECD countries.

AC Nielsen reports that the drop in consumer confidence for the first half of 2008 was almost twice as severe as it was in the rest of the world. Does that indicate that people have confidence in this government? Does it indicate that they have faith that this government is taking this country in the right direction? Clearly not. The Australian Industry Group’s Performance of Construction Index has dropped by over 16 points since December. The AIG Performance of Manufacturing Index has fallen 6.8 points since the election. The Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Rating for September 2008 is 18.9 points below the September 2007 level.

Retailing is sluggish. Confidence has got up and left. That is because this government has failed to show leadership. It is all about committees and all about reviews; it is not about the sorts of policies that are needed to drive this country forward. This government is losing the confidence of the Australian people more and more, day by day. It has abandoned pensioners, as we have seen in the House today, just as it has abandoned small-and medium-sized business enterprises.

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