Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to take part in this debate. Who did Senator Cameron just seek to demonise? Louise Markus, the member for Macquarie. He said 'one of the worst ever'. What did he ever say against Craig Thomson, the member for Dobell? Absolutely nothing. And there you have a window into the moral standards of the New South Wales Labor Party represented by Senator Doug Cameron in this chamber. Louise Markus is a wonderful person and wonderful human being who has a genuine heart for her electorate, and he demonises her in favour of Craig Thomson. Let us not be mistaken that this Senator Doug Cameron was the same Senator Doug Cameron who weaved the magic numbers within the Labor Party to allow Senator Macdonald's namesake, the corrupt Ian Macdonald, to retain his endorsement in New South Wales. So, if the people of New South Wales want to do a compare and contrast, let them do so on the basis of the words that have just come out of Senator Cameron's own mouth.

But the reason I want to be part of this debate this afternoon is to remind all honourable senators of the great words of the former Prime Minister John Howard, who said, 'Never rely on a quote alleged by your political opponents, especially those in the Australian Labor Party.' Today in question time Senator Wong sought to put o me certain alleged quotes from Prime Minister Abbott. Allow me to read into the Hansard the full quote of what the Prime Minister said:

Debt as a percentage of GDP, which would have been 120 per cent under the policies of the former government, is about 60 per cent under the policies of this government.

Listen to this:

Now, that's too high. We want to get it in a much, much better situation than that.

Oh. Why would Senator Wong refuse to put that into the quote to contextualise that which the Prime Minister had said? Because she went on a deliberate campaign to misrepresent that which the Prime Minister had said. He then went on to say:

We'd like over time to achieve this green line, but a ratio of debt to GDP at about 50 or 60 per cent is a pretty good result—

and what were the words missing?

looking around the world, 120 per cent is a dire result and that's what we were going to have under the policies of the former government.

Senator Wong is an intelligent human being and therefore you cannot assume anything other than that she may have done this deliberately. When you read the words of the Prime Minister saying that a debt ratio of 60 per cent is:

… too high. We want to get it in a much, much better situation than that—

you have a clear understanding from the Prime Minister of Australia that he is going to continue to deal with the situation.

The Labor Party legacy of 120 per cent was dire. At the moment, we have a trajectory of about 50 to 60 per cent. In anybody's language, halving that debt trajectory is good news. However, it is not enough, and that is what the Prime Minister himself said when he said:

Now, that's too high. We want to get it in a much, much better situation than that.

And so let's just get this exceptionally clear: we as a government are determined to clean up the mess by the Australian Labor Party—especially that left by the failed Minister for Finance, the now Leader of the Opposition in this place. The sad thing is that each and every time we try to fix their mess they deliberately stand in the way—standing in the way in circumstances where their own policies of saving five thousand million that they took to the election that they then vote against after they get defeated, deliberately seeking to avoid the issues of the day.