Mr BROADBENT (4:55 PM) —I am an observer of this parliament and I have observed four things today. First, I say to the member for Mitchell: the last time there was a crowd like this assembled for a maiden speech was for the speech of the member for Banks in 1990, when the first seven minutes of my maiden speech was drowned out by the applause for his maiden speech. I have not forgiven him yet! The second thing I observed today is that the Prime Minister of this country did not endorse his Treasurer at the table. The third is that the Assistant Treasurer just outshone the Treasurer. If you have two things going badly for you, you do not want be outshone by your assistant, and that is exactly what happened. The fourth thing I observed today—if I can just get this out without interruption—is that the shadow Treasurer outshone the Treasurer of the day, which must be embarrassing for the new Labor government.

The Treasurer said that they are the great protectors of the workers of this nation. I can tell you that, in my area, the paper and pulp producers, the power industry workers, the farmers and the working families voted Liberal. When the unionists down in my area were asked who they were going to vote for, 40 per cent of them said that they were going to vote for Russell Broadbent in McMillan and Peter McGauran in Gippsland, because the rhetoric that was coming from the Labor Party before this election campaign said very clearly, ‘You are expendable for our city votes.’ Take this on board, Assistant Treasurer. That is the truth. That is the rhetoric that came through to them. You can talk about that till the cows come home, but that was the case.

You have not got a plan. You have proved that you have not got a plan. There is no plan coming from the government. You said you had a plan before the election. The moment you were elected, there was no plan. You want us to give you a plan. As you did with the ‘me too’ before in the election campaign, you want us to give you a plan. You want 1,000 people to come here and give you a plan. What about the governance of the nation? You copied the Howard government’s policies. You have not got a plan to govern for a $1.1 trillion economy. The Australian people need confidence in the Treasurer, the Assistant Treasurer and all of those representing the Labor government in this place before they put their hard earned savings, their homes, their farms and their businesses in the hands of this new Labor government. Today, they have not got that confidence, as was proven by the Prime Minister himself.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Mr BROADBENT —Would our minister at the table like to keep his mouth shut so I can get out what I need to say? The government has inherited one of the strongest, most robust economies in the world. Everybody in this House should recognise the expertise of the Howard government in the management of the economy over the last 11 years. The inheritance they have delivered to this new government is not only a robust economy but also the lowest unemployment in all of those years. Those who are my age or older will remember how high unemployment was in this nation. You all knew somebody who did not have a job. Now most of you do not know anyone who does not have a job. There are jobs and opportunities out there. The member for Newcastle spoke today about the loss of jobs in the steel industry and about the opportunity to get out and get a job. The former government have returned the most robust economy to any government ever; it has never happened before. Oh, the Kennett government delivered to the new government in Victoria a very large surplus, which it has now spent. The government, rather than inheriting a $6 billion deficit, has received a $15 billion credit to this nation. The stewardship of how it handles the economy is now to be tested. (Time expired)