Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was watching the broadcast from the Press Club yesterday when Senator Conroy had his moment in the sun announcing this policy. I suspect that not many people were watching that most lacklustre performance by Senator Conroy, but I was. That was either preceded or followed by Mr Rudd’s own press conference announcing this policy. This is a major policy announcement in an election year, with the election only eight months away or thereabouts. If this is what the Labor Party are going to put down as one of their keystone policies then so be it, because it can be picked to death.

One aspect of this—the raiding of the Future Fund—is, as the Treasurer described, the most reckless and dangerous policy announcement yet. I will get on to the Future Fund. Rest assured that we are not going to forget that or let up, because the mask has slipped—even the mask on Mr Rudd, who has studiously since coming to the leadership tried to play down the big problem that Labor has had in every single election: economic credibility. You finally got a leader who posed enough, faked enough and conned enough so that people started to think that perhaps there was not much of a difference between the government and the opposition on economics. Supposedly, now you believe in surplus budgets and in zero net debt and in all those other things that you did not support when we were fixing the economy over the last 10 years. Mr Rudd was sold to the public as being the economically responsible leader and the Messiah that the Labor Party has been waiting for for so long, but the mask has slipped.

There are four points that I want to make about this policy. First of all, we are already doing it. The hype, the spin and the con about the lack of broadband facilities in Australia are nothing more than that. This government are already putting some $4 billion towards connecting Australia. We have a $1.1 billion Connecting Australia package, and over $600 million of that has already been laid out. Just recently, we had a $162 million announcement from the minister, guaranteeing the connection of broadband. There is also the $2 billion rural and regional Communications Fund. I make the point that this is already being done. The evidence is there: 90 per cent of Australian households already have very high-tech broadband connections. Time does not permit me to develop that subject any more. It is already being done, so do not listen to the hype.

Secondly, the real losers from this policy announced by the Labor Party are going to be the very ones who need the overriding market support, because the market will not meet their needs: the people in the rural and regional sector. Labor have a commitment to abolish the $2 billion Communications Fund, set up with the money received through the sale of Telstra. That should be made clear to the rural and regional areas. To fund Labor’s new policy, the $2 billion Communications Fund will be abolished.

Thirdly, another point to be made about this absurd policy is that they will be spending government and taxpayer funds for a need that, in essence, the market ought to be meeting. Is it any wonder that Telstra—Mr Burgess, no less—came out yesterday and supported lock, stock and barrel Labor’s policy? Anyone who knows Mr Burgess would not be surprised by the comments that he made yesterday. Is it any wonder, when you are going to roll gold into what they and the market should be doing?

Fourthly is the most reckless part of this policy—and the Labor Party. It has not taken you long to revert to kind. Wasn’t it Mr Swan who warned against the raiding of the Future Fund by our coalition colleagues, the National Party? What a joke that is. You are already into the honey pot. What a disgraceful, reckless policy it is. You are spending the future superannuation and pensions of our public servants. You could not help yourselves, and you have not ruled out more raids on the fund. (Time expired)