Rudd abandons economic conservatism, starts channelling Gough Whitlam
Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appears to be abandoning his claim to be an economic conservative and instead seems to be channelling Gough Whitlam – high taxes, big government and socialism, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said today.
“Over the summer while we were putting together practical policies that will create jobs and provide an effective response to climate change, the Prime Minister has been writing a 7,000 word treatise about political ideology,” Mr Turnbull said.
“In Australia we didn’t have a sub-prime crisis. In America they had 16 per cent of all of their mortgages were sub-prime lent to people; mortgages made out to people whose prospects of repayment were very poor.
“That category of high risk lending is less than one per cent in Australia. Why is that? It’s because the Australian financial system was well regulated. Who regulated it? The Coalition during 11 and a half years of good economic management.
“The only reason Mr Rudd can throw so much cash around is because he inherited a government that had paid off all the Labor Party’s debts. It had paid off the debt from years of Labor mismanagement and visions of big government and heavy regulation.
“It was effective Coalition Liberal economic management that put Mr Rudd in the position where he could spend the money that he’s been spending now. But he’s starting to get to the end of it and before long you’ll see him taking us further and further into debt.
“There’s always a need to improve regulation, always, in good times and bad in fact. But you’ve got to get it right, you’ve got to make sure that the regulations are effective,” Mr Turnbull said.
What businesses need
“That’s not the only difference between us and Mr Rudd. While he’s been putting billions of dollars of tax payers money at risk to prop up commercial property prices and support the profits of the big four banks, we’ve been out talking to small and medium businesses.
“I was out at Parramatta yesterday meeting with small and medium businesses hearing what they believe governments can do to help them stay in business and keep their employees on the payroll.
“And you know what they said?
“They wanted the Government to create fewer obstacles for them. They wanted the Government to pay its bills on time, to pay them on 30 days instead of stringing small and medium businesses out.
“They wanted to see less red tape. They wanted it to be easier to tender for government contracts and be able to do it online and they wanted to get rid of inefficient and unnecessary taxes.
“In other words they wanted more freedom to do their work because the prosperity of Australia, the jobs of Australians depend on the energy and enterprise of thousands of Australian businesses and Australian businesses small, medium and large. It is amazing that at this point Mr Rudd is seeking to go back to the failed days of big government, Gough Whitlam.
“Older Australians like myself will shudder at the thought that today Kevin Rudd is channelling the Whitlam era in his latest treatise,” Mr Turnbull said.
