Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on this matter of public importance on the economy. I am not the only one to reflect this but the days in this place tend to speed past. I had the sense that, even though we sped past yesterday, the events of last night will come back in two years time to haunt those opposite. Effectively, last night was about the opposition putting a line in the sand that they will return to. Through the 12 amendments that the opposition put forward and all their filibustering over the Parliamentary Budget Office, the line in the sand is that, in two years time when it comes to stepping up and delivering their election promises and having them costed, they will turn back to last night and say they refused from that point onwards to believe in the value of the Parliamentary Budget Office, therefore escaping scrutiny on their promises yet again.

It was an absolutely shameful performance by those opposite, clearly designed to set them up for two years time when they will yet again dodge scrutiny and repeat what they did last year in the election when they turned their backs on the Costello legacy of the Charter of Budget Honesty. They turned their backs on the scrutiny and the mechanisms set up by then Treasurer Costello. They went to an election knowing, deep within their promises, that there was an $11 billion shortfall between what they planned to do and how they could deliver it. It was an $11 billion black hole called by the Treasury and in their full knowledge, as the member for Throsby rightly points out. When it was pointed out to them, what did they do? They attacked Treasury. They attacked the messenger for discovering what they knew they had and they refused to be upfront about it.

In this debate we had the amazing situation where the shadow Treasurer lectured us all on the need to be able to deliver on our promises when he had an $11 billion black hole and would not be able to deliver any promises that he put in if he were in government.

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