Mr HUSIC (Chifley) (15:31): Member for Kooyong, you are in an alternative reality. In fact there were moments there I thought he was channelling his inner comical Ali when he was telling us how good the economy was going. The economy was going so great the Reserve Bank Governor decided to give you an early Christmas present. He decided to give you a little shave off interest rates to kick the economy along, because it was going so great! It is unbelievable, Member for Kooyong—Assistant Treasurer Member for Kooyong—that you could believe the economy is going that well. When the RBA appeared before the House of Representatives Economics Committee we asked them about this. Oil prices have fallen, fuel prices are falling, and the Australian dollar is falling in value relative to the US dollar. You would think that would supercharge the economy and be a great thing. It was not enough. Those two things, which would normally kick the economy along, were not enough. What did the Reserve Bank look at? They looked at the forecast of where the economy was going and decided to change their position and say that no longer would there be stability in rates—they had to cut it. They had to cut it because the economy is going nowhere fast. One of the biggest reasons for this is that there is a failure to invest. Business will not invest. They keep telling the RBA, 'We will not invest until we see consumer sentiment change.' What was the biggest hammer to consumer sentiment in the last 12 months? Ms Butler: What was it? Mr HUSIC: It was their budget that killed consumer confidence in this country. Ms Butler interjecting— Mr HUSIC: One of the worst budgets indeed, Member for Griffith. In fact, when you look at a household on roughly $60,000 to $65,000 a year losing $6,000, it is no wonder they will not spend. It is no wonder that confidence is down. When people are confronted with the prospect of a GP tax, with the prospect of $100,000 university degrees, when you see all the changes to supporting the young jobless, when you see, for example, all of the things that are being done to pensions, it is insane that you could have those opposite saying that the economy is going great. You can only say that here. They would never say this outside, because no-one would believe them. Everyone knows that the economy is in a funk and that the people opposite are doing nothing to repair it. To be fair to them, we expected too much. When they said they would be an adult government it was not reality; it was an aspiration. That is what they were aiming to be. Mr Giles: They will grow up one day. Mr HUSIC: That is right—one day they will be an adult government. The first half of their term in government has been all about cuts. The only thing they have is cuts, tearing thinks down and wrecking things. Mr Bowen: Wreckers, not builders. Mr HUSIC: Indeed. They make cuts to Medicare, sell of Medibank, tear down everything they see, and then when they have nothing left what do they turn to? They turn to the IGR. This is a great work of fiction. In fact, I have added this to my '100 pieces of fiction you must read in your 150 years'! This is great work. It is excellent stuff. Mr Giles: 250. Mr HUSIC: Yes, 250—I can imagine how big it will be then. This is fiction. This is a political document designed to advance propaganda rather than a serious attempt to look at what should be done. If it were a serious attempt to look at what we should do as people are aging, you would make sure that they have a sustainable retirement income. There's an idea. Look at everything they have done in the first half of their term. It has been: cut pensions; cut the superannuation guarantee contribution; cut the size of future national savings; get rid of the low-income superannuation contribution; and make sure that the wealthy are looked after as superannuants—those who are on $2 million of superannuation savings. And what was the other contribution? The other contributions in terms of improving retirement savings was given by the Treasurer, who floated the idea that we should drain superannuation to pay for housing, which was another bizarre proposal by a government that is basically at its heart full of contradiction. Its messages conflict with each other. There is no certainty about what they propose to do. The only thing you can bank on with this government is that they will cut, they will make life harder for people, they will break promises and they will continue to do that in this upcoming budget, which will just be a budget of cuts and chaos.