Mr TIM WILSON (Goldstein) (15:57): When I looked at this matter of public importance, I thought to myself: what is going through the minds of the opposition? They're literally consulting Twitter based arguments now; opposition via Twitter is their approach. They literally had someone in their leader's office who was such a genius that they turned around and thought, 'We'll do a motion saying they don't show any leadership.' They thought it was so brilliant, so clever. It went through the brains trust of stupidity. It was exactly the same sort of behaviour that Speaker Pelosi demonstrated in the US House of Representatives today in tearing up the State of the Union speech. In the end, what they actually showed was not strength, credibility or even their best arguments. What they actually showed was the juvenile nature that governs this opposition. They have no sense of understanding what matters to the Australian people or the issues that affect them, except for juvenile games. Let's look at the leadership that this government provides. Look at the resilience of the Australian economy. It doesn't happen by accident and it certainly doesn't happen under a Labor government. It happens because you have leaders in positions of responsibility—the Prime Minister and the Treasurer—leading the economic debate to make sure we are in the best position to steward the Australian economy to deliver for the Australian people. We know the context that we're now in. We've obviously had a significant drought that continues to put great pressure on one of our chief primary industry exports, the agriculture sector. Yes, we've had fires, and we know every day that that's having an impact on small and regional towns, on the tourism sector, on forestry and on retail as well as many of the other important and critical industries that support our country. And, of course, we have the coronavirus at the same time, which, again, is impacting our tourism and our education sectors. Against all of those challenges, the Australian economy remains strong because we have come to this parliament, and over the term of this government and in previous terms of government in this parliament— Dr Mulino interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Hogan ): The member for Fraser is warned! Mr TIM WILSON: and provided the budget strength that this country needs. We've done so not by accident, but because we've done exactly the opposite of what the opposition has put forward to the Australian people. We have gone to the Australian people and said, 'We want to cut taxes, so we can put money in people's hip pockets, so they can go and spend, so they can create jobs in small businesses across our great country, because we have an economy built from the citizen and the enterprise up.' What was their alternative? Their alternative was to turn around to Australians and say the solution to the economy was themselves: 'I know! We'll just hoard more money in our hip pockets and we'll spend it because we in Canberra somehow have a better idea how to govern this country and run business and grow jobs.' That is the fallacy at the heart of the opposition and their policy agenda. It's the exact opposite of how you build a strong economy. It's a type of leadership—I won't argue it—but it's a leadership to wreck an economy, and wreck the opportunities and prosperity of this great nation. Now, the fundamentals of the Australian economy are strong. We have high employment levels. We have low welfare dependency. We've done an enormous amount in making sure we have an export oriented and competitive economy. But these things do not happen by accident. The strength and the opportunity that comes from that is that we have a budget position where we're able to turn around in times of crisis, just like we have now, and put money on the table for those who are in need and to assist today those regional and rural communities that are doing it tough. We'll help them rebuild, stimulate the local businesses and create the jobs that have been lost. We're looking to the future for what we can do in expanding our trade opportunities to the world. Under the UK free trade agreement that we're going to negotiate with a post-Brexit Britain—a great moment for all countries around the world—we're going to create the opportunities that have been lost in the past because of the UK's absorption into the European Union. When I saw this motion was the matter of public importance for today, I just shook my head. When you think about the intellectual thought that went on behind it—it reminded me of a moment in the debate between Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan in 1984. They threw out all sorts of attacks, and Reagan just had to turn around and make the simple point: in endorsing his strategic defence plan, his long track record was to vote against it at every step of the way and Mondale would be standing in the sea. That's where the opposition stands—in the sea of irrelevance and absent ideas.