Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the sad things about being in opposition is that you've a lot of spare time to pore through budget papers. As an accountant, I'm perplexed by some of it. I note that inflation in the coming year is going to go from six per cent, which is pretty high, down to 3.25 per cent, so inflation is going down. However, they also predict that wages are going to go up by four per cent and GDP is going to go down from 3.25 per cent to 1½ per cent. At the same time all this is happening—and inflation is going down because we're so lucky in this nation; we've been slapped on the backside by an economic rainbow of massive coal prices, massive gas prices, massive volumes, big agricultural output and good mums and dads paying their taxes—they're also going to be spending an extra $21 billion in the economy.

Apparently this is not inflationary. I can't work this out. This is a new rule of economics. This is like freezing the ice cream and cooking the chook in the same kitchen appliance at the same time. These predictions are remarkable. I predict that they're wrong. I predict that it's going to come unstuck. One of the reasons they're sending $500 cheques to people for power is that their power plan, as Paul Broad has said, is bull manure. It has come unstuck. Get ready for the pain.