Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to his comments that the government’s planned Ruddbank could be used to rescue a billion-dollar luxury apartment project in Brisbane. I also refer the Treasurer to the failed Labor state banks in Victoria and South Australia and to Western Australia Inc. Has the Treasurer spoken to his Labor colleagues in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, who sent their states broke by losing billions of taxpayers’ dollars in failed commercial property projects?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From someone who presided over HIH I do not think that we ought to be lectured about probity—not by a lawyer for merchant bankers and not by a merchant banker. They have no credibility to lecture this side of the House. There we have it: the former merchant banker, the lawyer for merchant bankers and the member for Higgins up the back, who could not get a job as a merchant banker. He is going up the totem pole every day.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. It goes to relevance. I would ask the Treasurer to answer the question. Maybe then he could also explain the—

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

Order! The member for North Sydney will resume his seat.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

brown paper bags as the state secretary in Brisbane.

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

The member for North Sydney is warned because of his continuation way beyond the point of order. Fortunately for him, I was trying to get him to sit down and I did not exactly hear what he said, but I started to get the drift, and I do not think that that was very helpful. Because the member for North Sydney has not understood this when I have said it to him before, I would simply say that, in the crafting of the question, I think a lot of leeway was given about the question and the amount of argument and other matters that go to what the standing orders allow in questions. But I allowed that question, and I think that that needs to be recognised sometimes.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite seek to say that there are no safeguards in this legislation. They seek to deny the fact that its governance rules mean that it has to operate commercially. They seek to ignore all of that. We set up a corporate structure here with the best advice from some of the most respected people in Australian business—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! The question has been asked.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

people who I know are respected by the Leader of the Opposition. This just shows how opportunistic he is prepared to be, because we have taken advice from people who, I would say, are not on our side of politics when this was set up. We have taken plenty of advice, and we have put in place all the safeguards for this enterprise that you would expect with modern corporate governance. They were outlined at length in the House last night, and in the summing up of the debate I went through them in great detail, because this is only here for viable commercial property holders.

What the opposition are seeking to deny is the fact that foreign banks, if they withdraw, cannot be replaced by domestic funding. They must be the only people in the country who do not believe that. First of all, they obviously do not accept that there is a problem internationally with toxic assets in the banking system. They do not accept the fact that international banks that have been nationalised in their home country, whether it is Britain, France or Germany, are now being told to come home by their new owners. They do not appreciate any of these facts; they just seek to ignore them all because of their blind politics when it comes to trying to score a point against the Australian Labor Party.

Of course, the member for North Sydney seeks to say that the Vision tower in Brisbane would automatically receive funding. It will go through that process like every other project, and I have no idea whether it will receive funding, but I tell you one thing: we will try. We will give them access to a financial instrument if they pass the test. Do you know what that means? Australian jobs. That would be a terrible thing—supporting Australian employment! Your political approach in this matter has unravelled in this House today. Your naked political opportunism and your bitterness have been on show for all of the Australian people, and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

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

Order! I would remind the Treasurer of the requirement to direct his remarks though the chair.