Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

Another day; another scare campaign. We are getting used to it. We are getting used to it in the Senate chamber, and the Australian public are certainly getting used to it. In 2001, it was asylum seekers. In 2004, it was the scare campaign on interest rates. Last election, it was unions, and unions are getting a bit of a run today. Yesterday in this chamber, the coalition were back onto asylum seekers and today they are back running a scare campaign on debts and deficits. I will give the coalition this: they get an A for effort. They get an F for consistency and an F for substance because they are running a dishonest scare campaign on debt. It is not based on fact; it is based on dishonesty. It is a scare campaign that is being revealed today but is also going to be revealed tomorrow night in the other place when the Leader of the Opposition stands up and has to put forward his own policy, his own position on a deficit—and we are all waiting for it.