Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow Treasurer in his opening remarks referred fondly to his time in the eighth grade, and he has just demonstrated why his time in the eighth grade was the best three years of his life! The fact is that the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook is a standard document. The opposition must have short memories—the previous government brought down 12 MYEFOs. This year will be no different. The government will build on the $80 billion of savings that it has already achieved, and of course the government will take the responsible pathway back to surplus.

We have seen here today and in the Leader of the Opposition's address last night to the Sydney Institute an attempt by the opposition to manoeuvre and pivot away from being seen to be negative all the time—always saying no—and towards being seen as a government in waiting with, as the opposition leader would like to present himself, a leader in waiting. The reason they are seeking to pivot away from their relentless negativity is that the voters have come to understand that the opposition leader is a 'one-trick Tony' who says no, no, no, no and no. His relentless negativity is precisely why, in any opinion poll, you will see the verdict of the Australian people being delivered on the opposition leader. He is a one-trick Tony who says who says no, no, no, no and no.

If you think of both the address that has just been given and the address given by the opposition leader last night, it is clear that this new strategy—this new manoeuvre; this pivot—is designed to instil in people a perception that there is some sort of crisis in the Australian economy by talking the Australian economy down. This opposition would rather see Australia fail than see the Labor government succeed, so its latest manoeuvre is to talk the economy down. But we know that the opposition itself lacks all fiscal credibility, and I will explain why in a moment.

The opposition has run its course on carbon pricing. We know that the oxygen has been exhausted from that campaign, and we are witnesses to the fact that, even at the time when the opposition leader should have been here, he scurried off to Europe to join a Conservative conference. So now, when those opposite have run out of oxygen—run out of thoughts other than saying no, no, no, no and no—they think, 'It's time for a new scare campaign; we'll generate a sense of economic crisis by drawing linkages with the Eurozone crisis.' This, of course, comes from the same opposition leader who, when he is overseas, describes the Australian economy as the envy of the world. Here are the terms in which the opposition leader is seeking to generate a sense of crisis. Last night in his speech to the Sydney Institute he said:

The turmoil in Europe is largely a function of governments consistently living beyond their means …

Australia now faces a crisis mini-budget because the government has ignored these disciplines.

… Australia’s recent fiscal performance has been scarcely better than that of others facing much worse circumstances.

The opposition may seek to talk the Australian economy down in order to create a sense of crisis, but let us look at the facts. Australia's net debt will peak at 7.2 per cent of GDP, which is one-tenth of the net debt peak of the advanced countries as a whole. US net debt will hit 89 per cent of GDP, UK net debt will hit 78 per cent of GDP, Japanese net debt will hit 167 per cent of GDP while Australian net debt will hit 7.2 per cent of GDP—so much for the asserted crisis! We have a AAA rating, which, again, is the envy of the world. Standard and Poor's says that Australia has 'exceptionally strong public sector finances' underpinned by 'low public debt and strong fiscal discipline'. Standard and Poor's noted 'the sound profile of Australia’s public finances, which remain among the strongest of its peer group'. Moody's said that our government debt remains among the lowest of all AAA rated governments. The International Monetary Fund said that it:

commended the authorities’ commitment to consolidation to increase fiscal space and support monetary policy. The planned consolidation is faster than in many other advanced economies and is more ambitious than earlier envisaged …

So there you have it—glowing references from the rating agencies and the International Monetary Fund. Yet, back here at home, the opposition leader is trying to create a sense of crisis because he thinks he may profit politically from doing so. Later in his speech last night, the opposition leader said:

The situation in the various economies of Europe vindicates the Coalition’s consistent critique of the Rudd/Gillard government’s polices.

Let us look at the effect of the Rudd-Gillard governments' policies: 750,000 jobs have been created since Labor came to office, proving once and for all that we are the party of the working men and women of this country. We support jobs. It is our top priority and three-quarters of a million jobs have been created under this government. The unemployment rate, at 5.2 per cent, is about half that of Europe and the United States: the UK unemployment rate is 8.3 per cent, the US rate is nine per cent and France's rate is 9.6 per cent. And, of course, there is more to come, because there is a pipeline of $430 billion of job-creating investment in this country, and we have an underlying inflation rate which has caused the Reserve Bank to be comfortable about lowering the cash rate because it is at the lower end of the Reserve Bank's band of acceptability.

So, when we talk about economic performance, look at the facts. Do not listen to an opposition leader who thinks he can profit politically by seeking to create a sense of crisis. Of course, when he goes overseas, he says:

On the face of this comparative performance, Australia has serious bragging rights. Compared to most developed countries, our economic circumstances are enviable.

So we have the opposition leader, when he is overseas, saying that Australia's economic performance is the envy of the world and, when he is back here, seeking to fabricate a sense of economic crisis and saying that there is some sort of crisis mini-budget in a MYEFO that has been brought down since virtually time immemorial. The government has a sound, responsible record on the economy and will be returning the budget to surplus. But it is time that the opposition were held to the same standards.

As we know, when the coalition costings were finally—after the election—subjected to costings by Treasury and finance, what did they find? They found an $11 billion black hole. It is little wonder that the coalition refused to submit its promises to the Treasury and finance under the Charter of Budget Honesty, which was created by the previous Treasurer, Mr Costello. They would not abide by their own disciplines. Then, of course, we found that the opposition had admitted that it has a $70 billion black hole—not $11 billion but $70 billion.

During question time, when it was asserted on our side that the shadow Treasurer had accepted there was a $70 billion black hole, he denied it. He shook his head and denied it. Who said, 'Finding $50, $60 or $70 billion is about identifying waste, identifying areas where you do not need to proceed with programs'? It was not anyone on our side of politics. It was the shadow Treasurer. And he was backed up by the shadow finance minister, who at least had the integrity to admit they have a $70 billion black hole when he said:

The $70 billion is an estimate of the sort of challenge that we will have.

That is what the shadow finance minister said, but of course this is very worrying to the opposition leader because he is terrified that this information got out. So what did he do? He said:

Well this $70 billion figure is a fanciful figure. It’s plucked from the air by government ministers.

Really? You have the shadow finance minister saying it was there and then in response to that—because that statement by the opposition leader was made on 25 August—on 4 September the shadow finance minister repudiated his leader when he said:

No, it's not a furphy. We came out with the figure, right?

Right! You are right, because you do have a $70 billion black hole and it keeps getting bigger. When you have a $70 billion black hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging, but they have kept digging—and the man who was not in the telephone conversation will be the next speaker in this MPI. The coalition, in a telephone link-up, deliberately omitted the shadow finance minister when they said that they would actually back the superannuation increase from nine per cent to 12 per cent. Knowing full well that that would add to the $70 billion black hole and knowing full well that the shadow finance minister would have said no—and this time that would have been the right answer—they kept him out of the loop. 'Sources close to the shadow finance minister'—read 'the shadow finance minister'—said he was 'ropeable'. And why wouldn't you be ropeable? You have the opposition leader spending like a drunken sailor, adding to the $70 billion black hole, and then they come in here and bring on an MPI saying, that the government needs to find some savings.

We are finding savings, but the $70 billion hole is getting bigger and bigger as they keep digging deeper and deeper. It means huge cuts to health and huge cuts to education, and that is why the health minister outlined some of the programs that would be cut by the opposition if they were even to start filling that $70 billion black hole. That is why the minister with responsibilities for schools said, 'Of course they are going to cut the guts out of education.' It is because that is what the coalition always do. They do not like the idea of education for working people. They do not like the idea of education for the underprivileged. No, it will go back to the top, where the fact that you are born into wealth means you have a chance in life. But if you are born into poverty you have got no chance. That is the philosophy of the coalition.

Then, of course, they went on to extend their fiscal recklessness to broader economic recklessness and irresponsibility. We were here and we watched the frontbench on the other side criticise the government for saying it would support an International Monetary Fund request for extra loan funds. Then, when there was a huge backlash from the business community, they said, 'Oh no, we are not against that.' We had this same shadow Treasurer saying that Australians will be asking what the Prime Minister's priorities are, when she is prepared to give Australian taxpayers' money to the IMF to help the eurozone. This is economic vandalism writ large.

We then had the shadow Treasurer talking about the mining tax. He said the problem with the mining tax is that Fortescue will not pay any tax, the problem with the mining tax is that there will not be enough revenue. What did the opposition leader say about the mining tax? He said that it is 'almost guaranteed to kill the mining boom stone-dead'. So a tax that does not collect any revenue is going to kill the mining boom stone-dead, when we have $430 billion of investment in the pipeline? I would not call that stone-dead. I would call that a boom—an investment boom.

They say it won't collect any revenue but will kill the mining boom stone-dead! This is the only person in Australia, bar two other miners—who are not the large companies—who actually believes that the mining industry is paying too much tax. What he wants to do is take that money off small businesses and give it back to the large mining companies that would pay the taxes. They say, 'It's all right, we don't want it.' 'No, you've got to have it, because we want to shaft small business, we want to shaft working people in this country.' Is it any wonder that some of the up-and-coming members of the coalition who have a view, who have an economic framework, who actually believe in markets, who believe in competition are in despair? The member for Higgins, who is sometimes even referred to as a future leader, is here in the chamber—and I thank her for coming and listening to an incredibly eloquent speech! Well, you have got no future with this lot, because they are going to block any progress. You and the member for Mayo and the member for Kooyong—all of those people who actually believe in something, believe in markets—are going to get nowhere under an opposition leader who said that he worshipped the water that Bob Santamaria walked on. I will leave the last word to the former Treasurer, Mr Costello, who said of the opposition leader:

He used to tell me proudly he learned all his economics at the feet of Bob Santamaria. I was horrified.

Well, guess what? We are too. We are horrified at the fiscal recklessness and the economic stupidity of the opposition and the opposition leader of this country.

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