Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, my question is to the Assistant Treasurer, Senator Sherry. In light of the government’s quick and decisive response to the global financial crisis, can the Assistant Treasurer outline to the Senate what lessons have been learnt from the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank a year ago and the events that followed?

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for the question. It has been an extraordinary year in financial and economic terms, unprecedented given the size of financial collapses certainly—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Interjections on both sides make it impossible to hear the answer of Senator Sherry. When there is silence we will proceed.

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and given the most unprecedented impact in financial and economic terms since the Great Depression of some 75 years ago, and an unprecedented global financial crisis, given the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The collapse of Lehman Brothers highlighted the difficulties that were surfacing and consequently surfaced when Lehman Brothers went into bankruptcy almost exactly a year ago. Lehman Brothers was the largest and most high profile casualty of the meltdown that wiped some $1.6 trillion from the balance sheets of the world’s banks.

Looking back, at the time George W Bush was then President of the United States, as I recall. He was certainly no left-of-centre member of the G20, as Mr Hockey recently twitted in a thought bubble that he outlined last week. President Bush warned of the imminent collapse of the entire capitalist system and his administration enacted several US government rescue packages, including the purchase of investment bank Bear Stearns—that is nationalisation, for those socialists in the Liberal opposition—the nationalisation of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the stabilisation of AIG, the American insurance giant. President Bush at the time said:

I’m a market oriented guy, but not when I’m faced with the prospect of a global meltdown.

But, most worrying, those opposite in the Liberal opposition have learnt little from these experiences. They did support the first economic security strategy, albeit somewhat grudgingly— (Time expired)

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the Assistant Treasurer further inform the Senate of other extraordinary policy and economic measures that have been put in place to stave off the collapse of the world financial system and to cushion Australia from the worst effects of the global recession? Has the threat posed by the near collapse passed?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Lost in space!

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The only person lost in space—in response to that silly interjection from Senator Colbeck—is Mr Hockey, particularly when he twitters and poses his thought bubbles. The world faced the worst financial and economic meltdown in 75 years, and that sort of silly interjection from the Liberal opposition is just typical of the lack of seriousness which they have displayed in responding to these issues. Their position has been to wait and see: to sit on your hands, wait and see, until things get worse and worse and worse; to twitter and have various thought bubbles, no policy; and generally to oppose every decisive action that the Rudd Labor government has taken. Criticise the bank guarantee. Criticise the stimulus packages. Criticise the interim ban on short selling. Time and again— (Time expired)

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the Assistant Treasurer inform the Senate what dangers there are for Australia if we do not heed the lessons of last year, as exemplified by this week’s anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers?

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There has been a considerable degree of criticism by the Liberal-National Party of the Labor government’s stimulus packages. Firstly, on the issue of debt, the predominant reason for government debt has been the collapse of revenue, some $210 billion, arising from the global financial and economic crisis. One important aspect of the fiscal stimulus has been to cushion the Australian economy. What the Liberal-National Party effectively is arguing is: no stimulus and let unemployment go up—

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Colbeck interjecting—

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have got an acknowledgement of it from Senator Colbeck, thank you. Their policy is: let unemployment go up.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That’s not what we said.

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And we know that there would have been more than 200,000. That is a consequence of your thought bubbles. (Time expired)