Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

That will hang over this government for the rest of their term. I know the members of the Labor Party backbench here during this speech are thinking, ‘How am I going to explain that this was evidence based policy?’ The evidence prior to the election was that we would not have a carbon tax, but after the election the evidence is that we will have a carbon tax. No matter what she says, you cannot trust this Prime Minister. You cannot trust this Labor Party; you cannot trust that they will implement policy on the basis of evidence based policy, which of course is what this motion is about.

This is an area of the Labor Party that is purely and utterly ideological driven, because they are driven by funding from the trade union movement and by former bosses of the trade union movement. I see one sitting in front of me at the moment. He may be a good man but that does not negate his past. They are driven wholly and solely, on labour market reform, by their pay masters. No matter what the evidence based policy is in this area, they will refuse point blank to look at it, to address it or to touch it. In fact, they will implement policy which will make the economy harder to manage and put pressure on inflation, which will put pressure on interest rates in the coming months and years ahead.

It interesting that the motion quotes the Productivity Commission—and I will too. Gary Banks from the Productivity Commission just before Christmas said in relation to evidence based policy:

If we are to secure Australia’s productivity potential into the future, the regulation of labour markets cannot remain a no-go area for evidence-based policy making.

I am sure the member for Fraser in his quieter moments, away from some of his colleagues, would agree with that statement. I imagine he would quietly sit and reflect upon the challenges this country will have with inflation and interest rates and he would say, ‘What the chair of the Productivity Commission said is probably true, but just don’t let my mates hear that.’

It is evidence based policy. It is a reform which this government implemented and which will make this economy harder to manage, which will mean fewer people get opportunities at jobs, which will put pressure on ordinary Australians’ interest rates—all because the government is driven by the ideological backgrounds of their backbench, by their frontbench and by those who pay their bills.

This motion is a shot at the executive of the government by those on the backbench who are far more talented than what sits on the front bench at the moment. This government should be condemned for the lack of evidence based policy that it has implemented, and it has been highlighted by the member for Fraser.

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