The Prime Minister Mr Rudd and the Labor Government may be trying to manage the financial crisis, but unfortunately they are managing to make it worse said Senator Barnaby Joyce, the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate. “As we start the new parliamentary year the major item on the agenda is one that will remove jobs and dampen economic growth. The Emissions Trading Scheme will put people out of work, reduce their capacity to meet their house payments and put family financial security onto the street.
“In the coming year no other prudent economy has explicitly spelt out a program that will remove people from their jobs like Mr Rudd and the Labor Government have. The rhetoric on the environment in other countries is tempered by their strong consideration of the consequences to their people. Not so for Mr Rudd and Labor. Their solo crusade is at the expense of Australia’s working families, their jobs, their house payments, their standard of living and their sense of economic security.
"That’s the future they promise. Now let’s look at their track record, thus far. They bundled together a $10.4 billion economic stimulus package and it appears that the most predominant form of stimulus that was evident from this was an increase in gaming revenue. The more prudent - shock horror - banked it, so as predicted the stimulus package was a flop. We said it would be, we were right. Recognising their failure Mr Rudd and Mr Swan now talk of another stimulus package. How will we pay for that?”
Senator Joyce said they started their government with $21.6 billion in the bank and have already blown the lot. “Now we are heading towards a deficit for which the details are scant but it is believed to be in the proximity of $40 billion and above. In the near future it appears they will hock up $40 billion on our nation’s credit card with the deficit we have to have.
“In the interim the real demands on the budget are yet to come. There will be the inevitable increase in social security to cover the unemployed. There will hopefully be relevant infrastructure expenditure that will create jobs and increase the public asset component of the nation and finally there will be the accompanying falls in tax receipts by reason of the recession which will put further strain on the budget.
“Add to this the demands from State Labor Governments facing insurmountable debts. While they turn to the Federal Labor Government, Mr Rudd and Mr Swan are losing their capacity to bankroll these State Labor fiascos as the budget falls further in the red. Who suffers from this? Any person who relies on public hospitals, public transport, police or education. Basically the money will just not be there.
"What we are left with now is Mr Rudd’s eternal prologue of schemes and plans and wondrous things that stand in proxy for policy that delivers. Mr Rudd and Labor have blown the household budget on electronic goods before they have fixed the roof and now the rain is pouring in. It has taken them little more than a year to get Australia to this position. Their mismanagement of the nation’s money is their fault and all Australians will pay the price for generations to come.”