Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank goodness that’s over. Where do you start? Quite seriously, Senator Sherry, you can’t be serious about two-thirds of your speech today. If that is the Labor Party’s contribution to a debate on the economy, then while it will be a tough election next time around I suspect we will probably get re-elected. There was not one single positive suggestion about what the Labor Party would do if they were in government. Clearly, what is left open to us? If they have not got anything positive to say, we will have to refer to their previous record and assume that they will repeat the sins of the past, which is a quite reasonable take on a speech like Senator Sherry’s.

A day is a long time in politics, and it is a particularly long time for the Australian Labor Party, because it was tears of great joy yesterday and tears of anguish today: great joy yesterday because interest rates went up; tears today because unemployment went down. The Labor Party were pleased to see interest rates rise yesterday because they could attempt to make some cheap political points over a rate rise that they know and we very much acknowledge will impact on Australian families. The Prime Minister has made it quite clear that no-one likes higher mortgage interest rates. But sometimes a difficult decision needs to be made, and the independent body, the Reserve Bank of Australia, made that decision yesterday. That decision was made to underpin the long-term growth of this economy, the long-term growth of jobs and the long-term investment in education—in universities and schools—and for Senator Sherry to talk about debt and not talk about the $96 billion of government debt that this government inherited in 1996—$96 billion ratcheted up by the Australian Labor Party to pay for budget deficits—beggars belief.

Every man, woman and child in Australia shared in that $96 billion debt the Labor Party left to them in 1996. Through good economic management, that amount is now zero. Is there money left over to put into the dramatic water shortage situation we have at the moment? Yes, there is. There is $2 billion, and probably more will be required. Is there money left over for drought relief? Yes, there is. There is over $1 billion at the moment and undoubtedly that will rise. Is there money left over to pick up the slack of state Labor governments who are prepared to see our children playing outside in summer on asphalt and then returning to unair-conditioned classrooms?

I am the patron senator for Bendigo, and $3 million has gone into about 40 schools in the electorate of Bendigo to do things the Bracks government should have done. It is about putting in air conditioning; it is about putting in covered areas for children to play under in winter and summer. Could that have been done if we were running up budget deficits of $10 billion a year? Could that be done if every man, woman and child in Australia were paying $8 billion in interest payments on borrowed budget deficits? No. Would those kids in Bendigo have a computer? No. Would those kids in Bendigo have air conditioning? No. Would they have somewhere to play under cover during winter and summer? No. The Australian Labor Party’s gall in talking about the economy utterly beggars belief. I want to go to the question of interest rates.