Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Chief Opposition Whip has us debating government spending and fiscal rules today, and I am so glad that he has. It means I get to talk about some of the most important economic reforms in this great country's history and the repair that has been required because of the actions and inactions of those opposite. While this government has an enviable record, I want to start by spending time talking about the history of economic and budget management in this country.

Prime Minister Bob Hawke inherited an economy that was closed, overregulated and falling behind. He had the courage to modernise it, floating the dollar, opening the banking system and cutting tariffs. He worked with the unions through the accords to control inflation, whilst strengthening Medicare, education and the social wage. Hawke's reforms laid the foundation for a stronger, fairer economy. He was followed by Prime Minister Keating, who built on that foundation. He introduced compulsory superannuation so that every worker could retire with dignity. He reformed the tax system to make it fairer and modernised key industries through competition. Keating turned Hawke's groundwork into a productive, resilient economy that could meet global challenges head-on.

When the global financial crisis hit, it was again a Labor government, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan, that kept Australia safe. While other advanced economies sank into deep recession, Australia was resilient. We kept people in jobs and we kept businesses afloat. The stimulus approach, rather than austerity, has been praised internationally and studied as a model for effective economic management. You will see a clear trend here: these were all led by Labor governments. Those opposite claim they are the party of economic management, but history tells a very different story. It was Labor that reformed the economy, it was Labor that built decades of growth and it was Labor that protected Australians in times of crisis. We make the hard decisions, we get the big calls right and we do it while keeping fairness and opportunity at the core of our mission.

The motion brought before the House today suggests the government should show fiscal discipline to find savings to fund new commitments. Perhaps this advice should have been provided to the former members for Kooyong and Cook instead, because we have kept average real spending growth to 1.7 per cent—less than half the former government's, which sat at 4.1 per cent. More importantly, we have also found more than $100 billion of savings since we came to government, when the former government did not deliver one dollar of savings in their final budget. The Liberals have no interest in finding savings for government or the people of Australia. They took bigger deficits, bigger debt and higher taxes to the last election—a real trifecta—in order to pay for a $600 billion nuclear scheme which they still continue to talk about. This government is addressing the big structural processes and the pressures that people are facing, turning deficits into surpluses and driving down our debt.

The motion before the House also talks about fiscal rules. This government has a fiscal strategy and is delivering on it. Our rules include reducing gross debt as a share of the economy, and we've got debt down by $188 billion. When we came to government, as the wonderful member for Menzies outlined, inflation was high and rising—and was taking interest rates with it—while real wages and living standards were falling. The government is making incredible progress. Inflation is at four-year lows, real wages have been growing for seven straight quarters, more than 1.1 million jobs have been created, and we have the lowest average unemployment rate of any government in 50 years. The budget position improved by $209 billion, and debt, as I mentioned, is $188 billion lower, saving $60 billion in interest rate costs. In fact, last year the IMF's data saw Australia rise to second in the world for budget management, just behind the Canadians. (Time expired)

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