Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the fact that the government is spending $20 million every day to fund the interest payments alone on the government's debt. How can Australians have any confidence that the government can fund its $120 billion budget black hole when it is already spending $7 billion a year just to fund the interest payments on the government debt alone?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the member that there was an economic event called the global financial crisis.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know that that has caused an outbreak of confusion in the opposition ranks. They are now all looking at each other, confused—'What are people talking about', they are all talking to each other and saying; 'A global financial crisis? What was that? When was that?'—because we know the Leader of the Opposition slept through the legislation to deliver economic stimulus to keep our country out of recession and to support jobs. But there was the biggest economic downturn the world had seen since the Great Depression. That happened.

Mr Hartsuyker interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Cowper! The member for Casey has asked his question.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member might be the only person who claims economic literacy who has forgotten—

Mr Hartsuyker interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Cowper is warned!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

but rest of the world has not. And then when we look at what that has caused around the rest of the world: we have see economies in recession; we see economies with double-digit unemployment rates; we see lives being wasted, lives of hopelessness now being led because people cannot get work; we see governments that have had to slash government services because of the nature of their economic conditions.

In contrast, what have we seen here? Because of the timely and decisive action of the government, we kept our nation out of recession, we supported jobs—and that was the right thing to do for working Australians and for the people that they care for, to keep people in work, and we stand by it.

Of course, the global financial crisis, hitting as it did, the global economy and then into our economy, we were not immune—of course that had implications for government revenue, as the member well knows. And, as has been acknowledged by opposition spokespeople in the past, they too in those circumstances would have had seen the government's—

Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. How can the Prime Minister be relevant when she will not even mention the $50 billion in debts in the last two years?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Casey will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. Once again, we have the absolute economic illiteracy of the opposition on display—forgotten about the global financial crisis, weren't prepared to support Australian jobs, were happy to see our nation go into recession, which would have ended up with a declining economy, with hopelessness for working Australians, as they were in economies and communities that had been devastated and they were unable to provide work.

We made a different set of choices: we chose to support working Australians. We now are going to bring the budget into surplus, because that is the right thing to do in these economic circumstances. We will make all of the hard decisions necessary to do that, and we will be transparent about them. What the opposition will do is cook the books—that is what they did in the 2010 election, and that is what they are looking to do now.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will resume her seat. The member for Blair has the call.