Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we are witnessing today is a very brave Australian Labor Party—so brave that they are prepared to talk about interest rates 18 months out from an election. Did we hear the Australian Labor Party talking about interest rates during the last election campaign? No. The reason was that they know that the Australian public does not trust them with the economy. They know that the Australian public does not trust them with interest rates. They did not talk about interest rates in the teeth of a federal election because they knew that they would have been smashed at the polls. As it was, they were smashed at the polls even without talking about interest rates. We know that the Labor Party is gutless and scared about the subject of interest rates because Paul Keating told us that last night on the 7.30 Report. He said:

… why didn’t we take him on on interest rates?

He was referring to the Prime Minister. He continued:

Because we were too stupid. That’s why. Too gutless.

Kerry O’Brien asked:

Who was too stupid?

Keating said:

I think Latham should have taken him on …

Senators opposite might be gutless, but they are not completely crazy. They knew what talking about interest rates in an election campaign would have done: it would have driven their vote down even further. I was hoping that we would hear a bit about the orange-bellied parrot in taking note of answers today, but I think Paul Keating belled the cat by talking about the yellow bellies opposite when it comes to the economy.

When I think of Labor and the economy, the words of the Treasurer come to mind: ‘Hypocrisy, thy name is Labor.’ When Labor get on their feet and talk about the economy, it is always hypocrisy. Labor are in favour of bigger budget surpluses, lower tax, lower debt, higher surpluses, balanced budgets, more money for schools, more money for hospitals and lower interest rates. They are against every single measure that will create an environment in which those things can happen. We know that Labor in government left a budget deficit of $96 billion. Now, high budget deficits put pressure on interest rates. Labor say that they are in favour of lower interest rates, but they have opposed every single measure that this government introduced to reduce the deficit. They have opposed every single measure that this government introduced to pay down the debt.

Can Labor senators opposite name one single savings measure that they have supported in this parliament? I hear silence from the other side, because Labor opposed every single measure designed to bring this budget into balance, every single measure designed to pay down the debt. So when Labor talk about interest rates it is nothing short of hypocrisy. The home mortgage rate, as we know, is 7.55 per cent now. When we came to power, it was 10½ per cent.