Mr CHRISTENSEN (Dawson) (16:23): If we are the Philistines then I guess I am a bit of a Goliath man, but that was no David performance. That was not even a pebble of a speech. I simply say this: spending is very, very easy. It is so easy that even Labor can do it. What they cannot do is get value for money. And they cannot stop spending the money—even in the wake of four record deficit budgets. Spending is an addiction and, like any addict, this government are in denial. They simply cannot accept that they have got a problem. They try to justify their drunken-sailor approach to spending by comparing themselves with Greece and Spain. If an alcoholic can name someone who drinks more than them, it does not mean they are not an alcoholic. Labor try to justify their spending habit by saying that debt is nothing to worry about. We have been told by the Treasurer that asking to extend the credit card limit by another $50 billion to $300 billion is 'no big deal'. I wonder if the Treasurer's counterpart in the Greek parliament ever described the Greek debt level as 'no big deal'. If this is no big deal, how would he describe the debt ceiling when Labor came to government? It was just $75 billion and it was not even needed. But in 2009 the Treasurer increased the debt ceiling to a temporary $200 billion. Remember that? It was going to be temporary. He cited 'special circumstances'. In the last budget he increased it permanently to $250 billion, and now we are told that we are going to be increasing it to $300 billion and it is 'no big deal'. Mr Hartsuyker: And he won't need it, he says! Mr CHRISTENSEN: Yes, he won't need it, he reckons—just like the last one. How far do Labor have to take it before they take it seriously? This government can try to trivialise their recklessness all they like, but it is a bit like Shakira's hips: the numbers do not lie. Real numbers do not, anyway, but the rubbery forecast and the smoke-and-mirrors budget delivered by the Treasurer are a pure work of fiction. The numbers for 2012-13 that we will see in about 16 months from now will tell a darker truth. In 16 months time we will see how much of a big deal the debt limit is—whatever it actually may be by then. The shadow Treasurer delivered an excellent speech at the National Press Club earlier this month. One of the most telling graphics he used gave a visual representation—a very strong pattern of budget surpluses under the coalition. And then you saw this massive decline of budget deficits when Labor had the keys to the cookie jar. It clearly demonstrates that Labor's out-of-control spending has delivered the four biggest budget deficits on record, totalling $174 billion. They are very frightening figures—although I can understand families in my electorate having trouble putting them in perspective, because families are faced with the same issues every day. They have to watch their spending. And why is it that families have to balance their budgets but the Labor government cannot? Families know that, if you spend more than you earn, you either run out of money or you have to tax the credit card. And speaking of credit cards, can I say how sad it is that this government is so bogged down in the muck and mire surrounding the member for Dobell and, to get out of it and focus on the economy once again, they need to clear the air. Today the Prime Minister failed to do so in question time. When she was asked what line the member for Dobell had crossed, there was absolutely no answer—only some dancing, some line dancing, perhaps, to a country song, probably Johnny Cash: 'Because he's mine, he'll walk the line.' Going back to the credit cards, families understand that credit card debt has to be paid back. They do not get voted out and let another family come in to clean up their financial mess.. Mr Hartsuyker: Unless you're in the HSU! Mr CHRISTENSEN: Yes, unless you are in the HSU. Sooner or later, you have to pay it back. If you do not spend within your means, if you do not rein in your spending, if you spend more than you earn, if you keep borrowing money, you end up in a position where it is impossible to pay back. Mr Hartsuyker: Then you call in the coalition! Mr CHRISTENSEN: You call in the coalition at that point. I wonder if this same matter was ever a matter of public importance for the Greek parliament. Clearly a pattern of borrowing more and more money did not work over there. We could ask: are we on the same path? We will not be far behind if we keep posting the biggest budget deficits that this country has ever seen. But turning things around will not be as easy as it sounds, because Labor is spending money in two ways. They are recklessly splashing the cash around in sugar hits that they hope will lift their numbers in the polls and mask the impact of the carbon tax. Speaking about the carbon tax, it is very interesting. It is one of those taxes that is actually costing more than it is collecting, so we are told. I had a look on the Clean Energy Future website and I found an interesting article titled, 'Living green, drinking tea and weaving.' I was looking to see what some of the carbon tax dollars will go to. It said, 'This Saturday, 12 May, Auburn Community Development Network will host another "enviro tea salon"'. That is actually thanks to support from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. They are giving them $72,000 to do this. What do they do at these enviro tea salons? This Saturday, participants can take part in a basketweaving workshop. What is the Gillard Labor government doing funding basketweaving to the tune of $72,000? How is basketweaving going to mitigate so-called 'dangerous climate change'? Maybe this is an adaptation thing. They are adapting us to life under the carbon tax. What is perhaps more reckless than this is the fact that they have locked in billions of dollars in spending that will remain even if things in the world go ever so badly. When this government look for the bigger drunk in the room and they compare our economy to other countries, one thing they do not mention is structural deficit. But the economist Henry Ergas did. In an article in the Australian on 7 May this year, he made this comparison: The International Monetary Fund's fiscal update last week highlights how lacklustre the government's efforts have been. Importantly, the IMF concentrates on the structural budget balance, which nets out upswings and downswings and so captures the burden being placed on future taxpayers. This is a good indication of how an economy is really travelling, particularly in uncertain times. Ergas continued: Seventeen advanced economies have materially improved their structural budget balance since the global financial crisis. But not Australia. And six advanced economies will have a structural budget surplus by 2013. But not Australia. If this government wants to talk about the economy and compare us to the rest of the world, then let us do that. But let us compare apples with apples. We are indeed the Lucky Country. We are ideally placed to take advantage of the global resources boom. Australia went into the GFC with an economy that was the envy of the world, with money in the bank. And here we are, after four years of 'hard Labor', posting record deficits. We have extended the credit card in the middle of a boom. If this government is posting record deficits now, what will we see if the economy actually goes into complete meltdown? If this smoke and mirrors budget surplus is so thin it is actually transparent—like the one we have been dished up—despite it being based on a forecast of a bumper 11 per cent increase in tax revenue, it will actually be a real bumper deficit when it sets in. If the thought of what might happen when things go pear-shaped globally is not enough to warrant reining in spending then consider this: even if, by some miracle, the forecast $1.5 billion surplus is actually delivered, what will it do to debt? It is hardly going to touch the sides. If Labor managed, by that unlikely miracle, to deliver this long, long series of surpluses, it would actually take Labor 96 years to pay off the debts that accrued in just four years. If the government does not rein in spending and start paying down debt, Australia will continue to spend an extraordinary amount on interest. Interest payments on Labor's debt alone will reach an alarming $8 billion a year. What Labor's recklessness has cost this country is what could have been bought with that money. For example, the National Disability Insurance Scheme could have been brought in. We could have been spending that $8 billion on infrastructure to ensure a stronger economy into the future. We could have been spending that $8 billion on fixing the Bruce Highway right up and down the coast of Queensland, making it safer for motorists and flood-proofing sections of it. Instead, it has been frittered away on pink batts, on overpriced school tuck shops— An opposition member: On sleeping snails! Mr CHRISTENSEN: on sleeping snails and on 'enviro tea workshops' where they are going to be doing basket weaving. What a basket case of a government this is! It cannot manage its debt.