Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a tall order to believe that, Senator Parry notes, but let us assume that they have changed their policy. What do they believe today? We do not know much about what Labor believes when it comes to economic management or budgeting. We had the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer telling us last week that there was not a sliver of sunlight between their budgeting policies and ours these days, that our policies are so close together, that they are complete fiscal conservatives and that you do not have to worry about any change of government as a result of that.

Again, let us put aside the evidence that, as we put in place all of the policies over the last 11 years to get to the stage where we have such a strong economy, such high employment and such low unemployment, and such relatively low interest rates, the Labor Party opposed all of those measures. They absolutely and utterly fought against every one of the measures we put in place to create the economic circumstances where Australians have confidence in their future. Let us put all of that aside and ask ourselves: what is it exactly that they would do?

We do not know what the Labor Party would do. We do not know what differences there would be in their policies. We do know that while this government has been pursuing these policies and lowering taxes at the same time state Labor governments have been doing something quite different. State Labor governments have been increasing taxes and charges on Australian families, increasing things like household rates and other pressures on Australian families. They have increased the cost of transport and they have increased all sorts of burdens that families have to meet. To a large extent it is true to say that, as the federal government has been taking that burden off Australian families with reduced taxation, state governments including local government have been putting that burden back on. So if there is pressure on Australian families we need to ask ourselves: where exactly is that coming from? I think we need to look very carefully at what contribution state governments have been making to the pressures on Australian families.

We know from evidence produced only in the last couple of days that Australians are not convinced that the Labor Party has the answers when it comes to interest rates. I note from the polling that was published only today that 31 per cent of Australians believe that there would be higher interest rates under a Labor government. I think that shows great perspicacity on their part to determine what kind of policy the Labor Party would produce. Even though they have not put any details of that policy on the table, why did Australians think that? The evidence is what Labor did only 11 short years ago. That is the indication of what would happen under Labor. That is why they cannot be believed on this question of producing lower interest rates. (Time expired)