Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to reject this proposed suspension of standing orders moved today by the Leader of the Opposition. I state to the House that today we have made a little bit of history, because today is the budget day. Today is the day when, for every year since Federation, the opposition have come into this chamber and raised questions about the macro economy; they have raised questions about employment settings; they have raised questions about spending; they have raised questions about revenue; and they have raised questions about the fiscal state of the economy. But we have seen today for the first time in our history an opposition come into this chamber on budget day and not ask a single question about the economy. They have abandoned the debate about the economic future of this nation, and it is not surprising, because essentially they have nothing to say about the future of this country. They regard the economy as something boring. How do we know that? Because Peter Costello in his book nailed the Leader of the Opposition when he said that the Leader of the Opposition was—

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