Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Absolutely—follow the money. Put your money where your mouth is. While their leader tells everybody, tells the mums and dads, 'Oh, no; it's all over. There's nothing left in the Australian economy. There's no confidence,' what do his guys do? They go and put money on the table and say, 'I'll take a wager on that because I think things are going to go up.' You do not put money on the table unless you think there is a good, bright economy ahead, and that is exactly what there is—a strong economy despite—

Opposition members interjecting—

I love hearing from that side. They talk about the politics of envy. The worst politics of envy is this: they envy the Greek economy! That is what they want. That is the real politics of envy. 'Please, please give us a Greek economy.'

An opposition member: You're on your way!

If we are on our way, I am satisfied that we are well placed to survive the worst because we have done the hard work. We actually do our homework. On this side we have actually done the right things. In one of the toughest global economies that this planet has faced for a long, long time, we did the hard work to make sure we delivered a surplus. We made sure that we invested in schools. But the book burners over there, the antiscientists, the antiresearchers, have a plan to save money. They say, 'Get rid of teachers, that'll save a lot of money. Let's not have so many schools. Science and research is overrated, why would we waste money on things like that? Computers in schools—who needs them? Computers are overrated.'

Let me tell you about the success of investing in education. If we start talking about the Asian century then we have to do something about it. I heard the other day the shadow Treasurer talk about the Asian century, but he just said, 'Let's just run faster.' Which direction? To it or away from it, because all I can see on this side—

A government member: Out the door.

Out the door—that is exactly where they ran. They are scared of it. On this side we are not scared of it, because Australia is in the right place at the right time, with the right government and the right economy. We are the right government because when it comes to facilitating jobs we help that happen. When there are big projects in this country—you can look me in the eye—we help facilitate them.

Roy Hill is a fantastic example and one of the best news stories I have heard for a very long time. It shows that on this side we are prepared to help create and facilitate jobs and projects. It is just one of up to 30 new projects, part of the half-trillion dollar investment, and 6,500 new Australian jobs will be created just in that one project. (Time expired)

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