Page 1728 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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surplus paradigm is not a good indication of economic health. Still, the Liberals managed to double the government debt whilst also slashing services, which is truly an amazing feat. For a party obsessed with the surplus, the Liberals are not very good at getting one. Federal Labor had a deficit because they saved Australia from the GFC. The Liberals have one because they do not know how to count.
It is clear to me that the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government have been terrible economic managers. But what would you expect from the prodigies of the biggest economic vandal Australia has ever seen—Prime Minister John Howard. Australia experienced one of the biggest mining booms in world history, and what do we have to show for it? Unsustainable tax cuts for the wealthy that cost the budget more than the education system, no infrastructure projects, no fast rail or internet, no investment in mental health or domestic violence facilities. Nothing for the working middle classes. This was nothing short of theft. The Liberals then had the nerve to turn around and say, “We can’t afford to properly fund hospitals and schools or lift people on welfare out of poverty.”
Unlike the Liberals, Labor has a long history of economic success. Under Treasurer Wayne Swan, Australia avoided the catastrophic effects of the GFC. When Labor handed government over to the Liberals in 2013, Australia had been the top performing economy for three years in a row. We are now 21st, the lowest in the OECD. Since Hawke, Labor has always handed over government in a better economic position than the Liberals leave it. Almost all major economic reforms that have led to economic growth are Labor policies. As Paul Keating said recently:
It is a blatant denial of history for Scott Morrison to allege that the Labor Party cannot manage the economy when he knows the design and structure of the modern Australian economy was put in place exclusively by the Labor Party.
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MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (3.41): I am happy to talk on this motion today and on the amendment moved by the Chief Minister. In the upcoming election there are significant policies on the table which go towards tackling this national issue of housing affordability. The cost of renting or buying a home is something that is faced in every capital city where stagnant wages and a lack of federal investment have seen more and more people in need of affordable housing, coupled with dwindling affordable and social housing stock.
In the last round of negotiations under this federal government for the national housing and homelessness agreement there was no extra funding by the federal government for social and affordable housing; that is, zero dollars. But the ACT government has been continuing to actively work to tackle these issues. I thought it was a good chance today to remind members of some of those actions. The housing strategy that the Chief Minister referred to, which was launched last October—and I released this comprehensive housing strategy—outlines a number of actions that the
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