Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I wanted to take note of the answers given by Senators Conroy and Wong as part of the general motion to take note of answers but I think it feeds very nicely into the response by Senator Marshall. Today in question time, particularly from the two ministers I have identified, we saw pathetically inept attempts to deal with a straightforward question as to when working families could expect to see reduced prices at the bowser and the checkout. We will continue to hold the Labor Party to account for having encouraged this expectation that they will do something about reducing prices at the bowser and the checkout. These prices are still going up, and if ever anyone is going to be out of touch it is going to be the Labor Party for making such a hollow promise to the Australian people.

I can understand how new ministers struggle a bit. They are obviously a bit nervous. They fumble around. They have trouble with their indexes as they try to find some kinds of generic answers on their computers but I think it is not ungenerous to say that the new ministers are struggling. Senator Wong was totally unable to answer the question about whether the government had sought economic advice as to the inflationary pressures of stripping back Australian Workplace Agreements and the attendant pressures that this will have on containing labour costs. The Labor Party, now the government, claim that they are serious that their first priority—they’ve said they have about 12 priorities, as best I can tell—is dealing with inflation, but they do not even appear to be able to tell this place what economic advice they have received as to how they are going to go about it.

They are, I am afraid, giving every indication that government ministers simply have no idea how to handle a burgeoning economy. They resort to the kind of defeatist inflation rhetoric that is being run by Mr Swan and Mr Rudd at every opportunity. Like parrots, they read it out verbatim in this chamber. It is worth saying, and it is worth recording in the few remarks I have time to make, that they are without doubt peddling myths. They have inherited a booming economy—with inflationary pressures but a bulging budget—and they have no idea what to do. They are like the proverbial dog that caught a car. Mr Rudd and Mr Swan have inherited a strong, growing economy, with unemployment at close to 45-year lows, and a low and stable inflation consistent with the Reserve Bank’s inflation target.

No other government in Australia’s history has taken office under such favourable economic conditions. Already we are seeing the fault lines—the fracture lines—in Labor’s capacity to handle these economic conditions. Our economy is growing faster than the United States, Japan, Europe and Canada. Our unemployment rate is lower than the United States, Europe and Canada, and our annual inflation rate is lower than in the United States and Europe. It is no wonder that the Economist magazine has described the Australian economy as ‘the wonder down under’.

The most disappointing aspect of what Labor are doing, because it is so vital to be able to manage the economy, is that they are simply not accurate in what they say. Right now Mr Swan and Mr Rudd are misrepresenting our economic history, talking down our economy and talking up inflation. You have to ask yourself: what sort of government is it which, upon inheriting a strong, fast-growing economy with unemployment at record lows and inflation running at manageable levels—over average within the target band—immediately starts to misrepresent our economic history, to talk down our economic prospects and talk up inflationary expectations? It is very disappointing, and the performance we have seen from the new ministers in the new government has been very disappointing. I would have thought that most of them would be across their briefs by now. They have had months to get on top of it. What we have seen is a dog that has caught a car and has no idea what to do next.