Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

'Dreams'! Talk about nightmares—that's what we just heard in that contribution from the member for Goldstein, who, unfortunately, as we know, with my colleague the member for Berowra, is languishing on the backbench, not promoted. While all those other people are rushing up to the front of the table, they're languishing behind. As a consolation prize, they were given the notes by the Treasurer, saying: 'Come on. We're feeling the pressure. In you go. Read out what we've prepared for you.'

We know that this is a new parliament, but it's the same old government dragging the economy down. We might have new slogans, new excuses and new faces on that side of the chamber, but what we've heard today is this parallel universe, this alternative universe—that somehow we are supposed to believe that the government should be congratulated for a supposedly strong economy. The numbers tell a completely different story. And it's not just the numbers; it's the businesses and the residents in my community and hundreds of communities right around Australia who are feeling the pinch of a struggling economy, thanks to this government.

The motion even goes so far as to say the government should be thanked for the economic management and its plan to grow the economy. Let's look at the facts. The Australian economy has slowed to its weakest level since the tail end of the global financial crisis. Growth is just 0.4 per cent for the March quarter and 1.8 per cent for the year. Australia is still in a GDP per capita recession, with the measure having fallen for the last three quarters. For the first time since the 1982 recession, the national economy has gone from being the eighth fastest growing economy in the OECD in 2013 to the 20th now. Wages are growing at eight times slower than profits. Productivity has fallen for four consecutive quarters. Household spending is weak, and living standards are growing slower under the Liberals than under the previous Labor government. These are not the signs of a strong economy.

Let's look at the leading business surveys. The NAB declared that the retail sector was 'clearly in recession'. Senior analyst Tom Youl said:

Households will see little benefit over the next 12 months as both wages and household consumption are expected to experience modest gains.

He said:

The recently approved income tax as well as lower interest rates will offer some relief to incomes but financial policies are unlikely to provide meaningful economic growth.

The government must offer a well-thought-out and constructed plan to turn around one of the weakest economies this generation has ever encountered. We know what the economy looks like now. The signs are not great. We are now in our third consecutive quarter of per capita recession, the longest period since the early 1980s downturn. With the absence of wages growth, with cuts to penalty rates and with rising household expenses such as electricity and child care, more needs to be done to complement interest rate cuts to put more back into people's pockets.

But what really gets up my nose, and what really shocked me in the last week, is how out of touch this government is. In this motion, the government wants to be congratulated; with all that negative economic data, it is out of touch. That little nobody Senator Anne Ruston—someone I'd never heard of; I had to google who it was; she just fell into the cabinet because there was no-one else—had the audacity to go out in the community and say pensioners are getting a generous handout from this government. You can hear the silence from the opposite side. No-one is defending the nobody Senator Anne Ruston—whoever she is. I've never heard of this person! She's lecturing everyone that the pension is somehow too good to be true: 'It's a generous amount of money that Australian taxpayers make available to our older Australians.' I bet that if you go to Mackay, and to the leafy suburbs that the member for Berowra represents, and say to pensioners, 'You've got too much money; you've got a generous handout'—who phrases terms like this? It is the minister responsible for administering those social payments.

I've heard no contrition from the government whatsoever. They are lecturing everyone about responsibility and about tightening their belts. But what they say to pensioners is a big slap across the mouth from the minister responsible. I'm sure she'll be changed through that ministerial portfolio like the rest of them. To condemn senior citizens like this is disgusting. It's a sick joke, and I think the minister should go out and apologise. If that's how this government thinks they can treat pensioners—the member for Moreton, the member for Cooper and the member for Lyons, on this side of the House, will stand up for pensioners in the community. Forget the fact that it was the opposite side of the chamber that tried to cut the pension. Unfortunately, I don't have time to deal with the issue of deeming rates. This government was dragged kicking and screaming, by pensioners and by the Labor leader Anthony Albanese, to deliver a fair go for pensioners. (Time expired)

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