Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation. What reform challenges does the government face arising from the December quarter national accounts figures? Does the government accept proposals that it revisit policy approaches of the recent past?

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wills for his question. The government does face very big economic challenges and these have been underlined by the December quarter accounts figures, which show amongst other things a very big drop in business inventories and a very big increase in household savings, all of which suggest that there was a major shock to confidence in the quarter, particularly in October, and that is reflected in surveys of business and consumer confidence. The data also does give some indication of the early impact of the government’s first stimulus package, but I would emphasise that that of course only impacted on the last three weeks of the 13 weeks of the quarter. That therefore means that much of the impact is now occurring and will continue to flow into the course of this year. I note that the data that shows the impact of the first home owners grant extension that the government determined last year adds to the evidence indicating that the decisions to stimulate activity taken by the government last year are beginning to have a significant effect. As always, the crucial question we have to ask here is: what would be happening were it not for that stimulus to the Australian economy?

There are some arguing that we should be returning to the policy approaches of the recent past. The most prominent of these has of course been the member for Higgins, who has been haunting TV studios, hounding radio producers and chasing anybody who might be remotely connected with the media up hill and down dale, arguing that we should return to Work Choices, scrap any suggestion of a carbon pollution reduction scheme and restore the Howard government’s economic policy generally. I note he is claiming credit for the fact that he made a statement in October 2007 suggesting that the Australian economy was soon to be hit by a tsunami coming from a collapse in the global economy. He is now claiming this as the basis for why he should be listened to as the great economic seer and the person who would lead us into the promised land.

Like all soothsayers, astrologers, myth makers and snake-oil salesmen, the member for Higgins wants us to take note of some things that he said some time ago that vaguely turned out to be accurate and ignore some of the other things. I note that roughly at the same time he was also urging Australians to put their money into superannuation, up to $150,000 a year under his new tax-free rule. He said, ‘Put all your money into superannuation.’ There are now a lot of people out there regretting taking his advice, borrowing money in order to put money into superannuation. At the same time as he was purportedly telling people there was a huge tsunami on the way, he was telling people to put their money into superannuation. He is yearning for a return to the past—yearning for a return to Work Choices, inaction on climate change and inaction on infrastructure.

I was on a TV program with the member for Higgins last week. He was asked why he was choosing to stay on the back bench. His answer was that it gives him time to reflect. How do you like that? That is the purpose of being in this parliament—reflection! It is kind of like this is an ashram or something where we all sit around and say ‘om’ and reflect, or an ashram in Armadale in the seat of Higgins with old Swami Costello and his acolytes reflecting on the state of the world.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. What do ashrams and swamis have to do with the question?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Canning will resume his seat. I will listen carefully to the minister’s response and I remind the minister of his obligation to refer to members by their parliamentary titles.

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My apologies, Mr Speaker. Sadly, every few weeks the media gets a little bit bored and out pops the member for Higgins—will he, won’t he, what did he say in that phone call, who is he supporting in a preselection, who is running for the local council and where does he walk his dog? All that kind of stuff comes up. I am sorry to say this to the Liberal Party but this is all a waste of time. We know you are having great difficulty making up your mind on whether you want to go back to the past or not and whether you want to support Work Choices or not—

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Again, I refer you in particular to standing order 89, subheading ‘Offensive words’. A number have been mentioned, but when this—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for O’Connor will resume his seat. The Minister for Finance and Deregulation may continue.

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government does not believe that Australia should return to the recent past. In fact, our economic policy is focused on making up for the mistakes of the recent past, for 10 years of soft options, for 10 years of minimal economic reform, for 10 years of inadequate investment in infrastructure and skill, and with one big agenda at the end. The big agenda was to attack working people’s rights in the workplace. We are also about restoring the rights of working people in the workplace. We are going to proceed with our reform agenda and we suggest that the member for Higgins gets out of the road of the Liberal Party getting with the strength and understanding that the Australian people are moving on from the Howard era. They have a very different agenda and a very different set of economic needs which this government is delivering.