Mr IAN MACFARLANE (2:27 PM) —My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, what have been the economic benefits for Australia flowing from the privatisation of government business enterprises? Prime Minister, are you aware of alternative approaches to the approach currently being followed by the government?

Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) —Can I say in reply to the member for Groom that, in a word, the economic benefits flowing from the government's policy of privatisation have been `immense'. That is why the coalition parties not only since being in government but also when in opposition have been absolutely up-front in their support for policies of privatisation.

One of the ironies of this whole debate about privatisation and one of the things that underlines the utter hypocrisy particularly of the Leader of the Opposition on this issue is that, when the Labor Party in government sought against its election commitments and in repudiation of its election commitments to privatise government business undertakings, it would not have been able to do so without the cooperation of the then coalition in opposition. I certainly remember conversations I had with the now Leader of the Opposition when he was Minister for Finance on the eve of a budget when he sought the support of the coalition in opposition in relation to the privatisation of one of the government business undertakings. Without our support, that would never have materialised.

But the advantages of privatisation are significant. Privatisation of Telstra, the continuation of the privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank and other privatisations carried out by the coalition government have greatly facilitated the reduction of the debt run up by the Leader of the Opposition when he was Minister for Finance. We have taken about $43 billion out of the $80 billion of debt or more that we inherited in 1996. As a result, this country now has probably the lowest, if not one of the lowest, government debt to GDP ratios of any country in the world. We have reduced it from a level of 20 per cent of GDP to a figure of 8½ per cent of GDP. That has greatly strengthened the economy, and it is one of the reasons why privatisation is an extremely good policy.

We have also seen massive spending initiatives made possible by the privatisation of Telstra. We had the Natural Heritage Trust, worth $1.25 billion. We had Networking the Nation, worth $250 million. Out of the Telstra social bonus, we have had $1 billion—that was out of the sale of the second tranche of Telstra. That has provided untimed local calls in extended zones—$150 million. The extension of SBS in TV black spots to $120 million. Rural transaction centres—$70 million. Local government fund—$45 million. Expanded mobile phone coverage on major highways—$25 million. Tele-communications for remote and isolated islands—$20 million. And connecting Tasmanian schools—$15 million. All of those initiatives were opposed by the Labor Party, yet it does not stop Labor premiers like Jim Bacon turning up at the launch of telecommunications initiatives in Tasmania and seeking to share the limelight with the federal government. Labor say, `We will vote against it; we think it is absolutely terrible policy,' but when it comes to actually announcing an initiative which has been won for the people of Tasmania by the coalition and Senator Harradine and opposed by the Democrats and the Australian Labor Party Jim Bacon waltzes along and says, `Don't leave me out, John. Make sure I am on the platform. Let me share the limelight in the announcement.' Steve Bracks does exactly the same thing, and Bob Carr does exactly the same thing.

It is therefore no surprise to me to learn that a senior member of the Labor Party frontbench, who I think might be studying his brief at the moment in relation to the next question, should have been talking to Macquarie Bank about Labor plans for privatisation. Everybody around this building knows that, if Labor win the next election, they will find a reason to ditch their opposition of the sale of Telstra. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows that, just as they did it with the Commonwealth Bank, just as they did it with Qantas, just as they did it in relation to Australian Airlines, they will do it in relation to Telstra. They have done it before; they will do it again. If it is possible to have one policy in opposition and a completely different one in government, you can be absolutely certain that that is exactly what the Australian Labor Party are going to do. They are total, rolled gold hypocrites on this issue, and the Australian public knows it.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, if I cannot get—

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition will come to his question.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, can I have leave to make a bet?

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition is dealing flippantly with question time.