Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Senate is considering the Car Dealership Financing Guarantee Appropriation Bill 2009. The so-called ‘special purpose vehicle’—SPV, dubbed OzCar—was established to help car dealers unable to obtain ongoing finance because of the credit squeeze. I remind the Senate that the credit squeeze was exacerbated by the mismanagement of the credit squeeze by Labor. Firstly, Labor’s ill-thought-out bank guarantee saw a flight of capital from credit companies to the banks. The consequences are there for all to see. Also, Labor’s huge spendathon, which has now sucked up $200 billion—and it is ever increasing—from the credit markets, made the credit supply all the more difficult. I still do not know how Mr Rudd and Mr Swan say with a straight face that somehow you deal with a credit crisis by putting a greater demand on credit resources by borrowing an extra $200 billion, which, by the end of it all, I think will be $315 billion.