House debates

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Questions without Notice

Economy

2:32 pm

Photo of Darren CheesemanDarren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on our nation's resilient economic fundamentals? How does our economy's strength help deliver the reforms we need to secure Australia's future jobs and prosperity?

Photo of Wayne SwanWayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for his question. Our economy is now 13 per cent larger than it was at the end of 2007. That has outstripped almost every other advanced economy in the world. Also, we have contained inflation at 2.2 per cent, well within the Reserve Bank's target band; we have low unemployment, with a five in front of it, whereas around the world double-digit numbers are very common; we have a low cash rate of three per cent—far lower than at any time under the previous government; and of course we have a triple-A credit rating. We have a triple-A credit rating because that reflects the assessment of the global community of our strong public finances and our low debt.

We have heard some reflections on these strong fundamentals in question time today. Those opposite do not accept these facts; they are in complete denial of these facts, showing that they are unqualified to run a $1.5 trillion economy. They have now joined the cranks and crazies of the US Tea Party in their critique of the Australian economy and in their denial of these basic facts about the strength of the Australian economy. This government will get on with the big reforms that will keep us growing. In our bones, in our DNA, are jobs and growth. The enduring mission of the Labor Party, as it was the enduring mission of Bob Hawke when he was in government, is to put in place the very big reforms that strengthen our economy for the future. All of that is challenged now by the cranks and crazies of the Liberal Party in Australia. The proposition they have put to the House today is a simple one—that in the face of the global financial crisis they would have cut spending by $160 billion. That would have been the revenue write-down we were coping with. That would have absolutely tanked the Australian economy and we would not be here today saying our economy is 13 per cent larger if those people opposite had been in charge of this economy over the past five years. The behaviour in the House today demonstrates how unqualified they are, how they lack the judgement, how they lack the temperament, to run a $1.5 trillion economy, with this silly critique that has at its heart the philosophy of the Tea Party in the US, which wants to take an axe to the social safety net and a sledgehammer to our economy. The precedent is in Queensland. That is what they are following—the approach of Campbell Newman. They have a Commission of Audit; they want to hide their big cuts to public expenditure in health and education because they do not understand the importance of jobs and growth.