Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Here we go again with the opposition—the confected anger, the argument that they were great economic managers. It is just beyond all plausibility. Senator Ronaldson does confected anger as well as anyone—maybe not as well as some on the other side but he doesn’t do a bad job of confected anger. Then we had Senator Ryan, whose heroes are displayed all over his office walls and windows: Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Back to the past, back to Maggie Thatcher, back to Ronald Reagan—that is Senator Ryan. It is Reaganism and Thatcherism. There is no role for government to protect workers, no role for government to protect the environment and no role for government to protect families. It is Thatcherism and Reaganism. It is no wonder Senator Ryan is on his way out of the chamber, because it is an absolutely abysmal approach, an old-fashioned approach and an approach that he should be ashamed of—Thatcherism and Reaganism. That is the so-called modern Liberal Party. There is all this confected anger, all this angst. All this pandering to the worst aspects of any society is a problem.

I have to say, I think the political debate in this country over the last couple of months has probably been at its lowest since I have been a citizen of this country, since I came here in 1973. What we have is an attempt to grab power, an attempt to grab government. The anger and the angst that the opposition are displaying are because they did not get a mandate from the Australian public. They were not seen as an alternative government by the public and they were incapable of negotiating with the Independents to form government. Labor formed government for some simple reasons. We were looking forward. We were looking at what is important in this country and we were determined to make sure that future generations in this country have modern jobs, a good economy and an environment that is sustainable. That is the difference between us and the Liberal coalition.

It is quite interesting that the member for New England, Tony Windsor, let the cat out of the bag last week when he said the Leader of the Opposition was prepared to do anything, to promise anything, to form government. But I think the Independents had the Leader of the Opposition pegged. They knew that the Leader of the Opposition, as he said on The 7.30 Report and as Senator Hurley said here, would actually say anything in the heat of negotiations, but unless it was written down you could not take it as the gospel truth. That is the Leader of the Opposition. Let me tell you why I think the coalition could never form government and convince the Independents: because not even the so-called eminent elders of the coalition accepted that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, could play a leadership role. It is clearly understood that he has no economic capacity.

The opposition are fond of quoting the former Treasurer Peter Costello. I think Peter Costello was a bit lazy. I do not think he had much courage. I don’t think he actually did the right thing by the Australian economy. After years of boom, he left us in a pretty precarious position to build for the future. We had money rolling in but he completely capitulated to the former Prime Minister John Howard and just spent it on political bribes. That was the wrecker, the Hon. Peter Costello. But Peter Costello did get it right. He got it wrong economically, but he got it right when he was describing the current Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott. Let me quote what he said in The Costello Memoirs. I suppose you have all read The Costello Memoirs. This is what he said:

Never one to be held back by the financial consequences of decisions—

and he is talking about the current Leader of the Opposition—

he had grandiose plans for public expenditure. At one point when we were in Government, he asked for funding to pay for telephone and electricity wires to be put underground throughout the whole of his northern Sydney electorate to improve the amenity of the neighbourhoods. He also wanted the Commonwealth to take over the building of local roads and bridges in his electorate.

So much for the economic competence of the current Leader of the Opposition. Again in The Costello Memoirs the former Liberal coalition Treasurer said:

He used to tell me proudly that he had learned all of his economics at the feet of Bob Santamaria. I was horrified.

‘Horrified’, said Peter Costello—horrified about the current Leader of the Opposition’s economic underpinning.

Niki Savva, in her book So Greek: Confessions of a Conservative Leftie, said:

So, by December 2003 … Costello has pretty much had enough of all the talk about Abbott as frontrunner for the deputy’s position. Costello was hugely unimpressed by … Abbott’s dismissive comments about economic management.

Let me just stop there. This is the man who is arguing that he has got the economic capacity to lead an Australian government. But Peter Costello basically said that he was hugely unimpressed by Mr Abbott’s economic capacity. Niki Savva continues:

Costello handed it to me to file away for future reference, with a key paragraph underlined. In the article, Abbott was quoted as saying he would probably run for the deputy leadership; however, he scoffed at the notion of becoming Treasurer.

I think that any potential leader of the government of this country—any Prime Minister—who is so dismissive of economic management and so derided by his own party is not sustainable as a leader with any economic management credentials at all. Laurie Oakes has written:

Now we know. If Peter Costello had become prime minister, he would not have wanted Tony Abbott as his deputy.

Costello believed Abbott’s dismissive attitude to economic management made him unsuitable.

Do not come here lecturing the Labor Party about economic management when your so-called guru on economic management, Peter Costello, had absolute disdain for the current Leader of the Opposition. It is quite right that he should have had that absolute disdain because the Leader of the Opposition has no economic credentials. Tony Abbott is Leader of the Opposition now—why? Do you know why he is there? Because the extremists in the Liberal Party have taken over—the extremists who are opposed to climate change, who do not believe climate change is right and who put up policies that they describe as ‘Direct Action’. This is again an example of the complete failure of the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, to understand economic issues. He talks about direct action, but it has been revealed today that ‘Direct Action’ will cost the Australian public $30 billion. That means there will be a black hole of $30 billion in your budget, and it will cost the average Australian family $720 a year to work under your policies.