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

Instead of actually investing in health care, there was a massive dole out of funds through private health insurance. There was not an investment in hospitals; there was an underinvestment in health. In terms of education itself, instead of putting money into TAFE, those opposite sought to duplicate the TAFE system by setting up their own rival TAFE system and underfunding TAFE. Yes, you did get a surplus—everyone acknowledges that. It is the way that you got there and the underinvestment and what was left as a result of that and the type of issues that we have to deal with now. The Reserve Bank was saying from the early part of the last decade that capacity constraints were the biggest threat to the economy, that those capacity constraints were in the form of skills shortages and infrastructure constraints that needed to be addressed and were not. I have already talked about what happened in education. Where were you on infrastructure? You pretty much abandoned, for instance, anything to do with urban planning or involvement in urban infrastructure—not only making cities liveable but ensuring the fluid movement of people and goods within cities.

I will give credit to those opposite. The one bit of infrastructure that you did get to was the M7, and you only got to it because you put a toll on it. I am first to admit that the M7 was certainly—

Mr Briggs interjecting—

Well, my preference is not that we have to rely on tolls, but that we are able to invest without putting the imposition of tolls. Most of the infrastructure in this country has not been developed simply as a result of putting a toll bucket on the end of it. Again, if you look at unemployment, at inflation and at growth, we have a great advantage relative to others. My biggest concern is not just about our recognising the strength of this economy but about making sure that we continue to ensure that this is an open economy, one that connects within the region, that maintains, for example, a commitment to recognising the value of Australian investment, along with foreign investment; that we are able to take advantage, for example, of what we have as a result of the NBN and take advantage of our IT sector and what that can do in connecting us, not only internally but within our region. As much as this is a discussion for here and now—and what I will pick up on in terms of what the member for Mayo is saying—the reforms that we make now generate prosperity down the track. I am certainly proud of being part of a government that has put us in a position where we are able to leap off the advantage that has been given to us.

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