Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Once more, this is like being at the smorgasbord of the Brekkie Creek Hotel. I just do not know where to start. I do not know whether to start down the pudding end or the entree end, or go straight in for one of those huge steaks that we famously produce in my home state.

Five minutes is a limited period of time in which to make a point, but let me try and pick up on as many points from the good senator's speech as I can. I often make allowances, when listening to contributions from Labor members, for their ignorance about the base economy of our nation, about basic economics. Somehow they think that the sun rises on the left-hand side of this building and sets on the right and that government itself is the driver of all things good in this nation. Well, let me tell you something: it is the businesses of this nation that keep us going. What Labor know well is that governments can borrow money—and they deadset know a thing or two about that, because there is a $300 billion legacy to underpin the fact that that is what they know to do. They do not know how to spend it efficiently. They pump it into people's roofs, where there is no productivity dividend whatsoever, and into school halls, which gives this little sugar hit in the community and then has no long-term effect. They know how to spend it. Senator Brandis made the point earlier today that they had no cap on the percentage of GDP of taxation. They had no cap on that, so they have no regard for that. We have brought in a fiscal discipline here in relation to the percentage of GDP, with respect to the responsible spending of this government.

Senator Gallagher—through you, Deputy President—you stand and talk about the welfare of women and students. I can tell you what they need most, within their households or for themselves: they need a job. For them to have a job—