Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh used to say, ‘You can define the moment or let the moment define you,’ and yesterday we saw what real leadership is all about—the sort of leadership that you need to ride out this financial storm. These are serious times. Twenty-five banks around the world have already hit the wall. The US is probably already in recession and countries in Europe are probably on the cusp of recession. The Prime Minister yesterday acted quickly and decisively—and that is what you want from a leader in difficult times—to protect our deposits, to keep banks working and get money into the hands of people who need it to fuel the economy. That was what we saw yesterday.

We did not create this problem—Australia did not create this problem; the problem started in the United States—but we are better prepared than most countries in the world to cope with it, due in part to a budget that we put together in May and due to the work of previous governments over the last 20 years. To give credit where credit is due, decisions like floating the dollar, deregulation of the financial system, competition policy and universal superannuation are, in large part, responsible for the last 15 years of economic growth. This, coupled with decisions of the former government and the mining boom, set us up well. Our banks are amongst the strongest in the world. Our big four banks are amongst the world’s 20 AA rated banks. Our prudential system is the envy of the world.

See this speech in context