Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition may be unhappy with the answer. He normally is when it does not suit his short-term political purposes. But what we on this side of the House are on about are the long-term interests of the economy of this nation—and that is the difference. I would say to the alternative Prime Minister of the country, as he would describe himself, that one of the qualifications for office in this country is to support the independence of our financial regulators—a quality and a character element that we have not seen evidenced in his behaviour this last week at all. Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition that he was a member of the Howard government and this goes to a question of a pattern of behaviour by the Howard government in relation to public servants who do not toe the political line. Remember the attack on the then Secretary to the Treasury—who is also the Secretary to the Treasury now—when he made an internal speech in the Treasury about why Treasury should be included more in the then government’s deliberations on climate change and water. What was the response to that? They unleashed the dogs of war. But much worse—and the member for Higgins knows the detail of this and he should hang his head in shame because it happened under his watch—the bonus which would normally be attracted to the Secretary to the Treasury at that time was then—

See this speech in context