Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [3.50 p.m.]: The sort of approach this Government has to the economy was reflected entirely in this motion. A Government member moved a motion to talk about the good economic figures he claimed the Government had achieved yet he spent half his speaking time on cheap political nonsense. That performance was typical of the Government. It does not care about the economy; it has sent the economy down the gurgler for about 15 years. For seven minutes the member for Kiama had an opportunity—and I listened—to speak on what the Government has done for the economy but he did not do so. It is an absolute disgrace. The economy is going backwards because of this type of attitude. In question time the statement made by the Minister for Police was outrageous. My father-in-law has been a serving member of the Police Force and he has spent many, many hours serving his community.
Mr Frank Terenzini: Point of order: It is under Standing Order 76, relevance. I ask you to direct the member for Manly to stay on the point. We are talking about the economy; we are not talking about other, irrelevant matters.
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! I uphold the point of order. The member for Manly will confine his remarks to the leave of the motion.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: I was merely defending my father-in-law and his community service—real community service—unlike what we are seeing on the other side of the House.
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! The member for Manly will return to the leave of the motion.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: As far as the economy, we have economy lite in action. We have got Kristina, and I do not know the Minister for Finance—that is right, Michael Daley.
Mr Frank Terenzini: Point of order: We have had rulings from the Chair about referring to members by their formal title. The member for Manly is not. He is canvassing the ruling.
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! I uphold the point of order. It was also raised by the member for Pittwater.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: I will give two examples of the performance of the economy lite team on the other side. Remember the vendor tax? That was a fantastic little initiative! When the economy was starting to move what did the Government do? It put in the vendor tax, it stopped investment, it stopped confidence, it stopped the property sector—it was a Labor special. Then last year we had the mini-budget, which came at the height of the global financial crisis. Every business out there was expecting the worst. There was an expectation of very, very difficult trading conditions and of increasing job losses. What did the Government do? Unlike every other government in the world, it raised taxes and charges and cut infrastructure. That is the sort of approach we have seen from the other side of the House. We just saw the performance from the member for Kiama, whose speech was all about spin.
My view is supported by many independent commentators. Remember the State of the State reports? Let us reflect on the Government's performance over the past decade in relation to eight economic indicators: economic growth, retail spending, business investment, construction work, population growth, housing finance, dwelling commencements, and unemployment. Ten years ago New South Wales ranked a close second behind Victoria. It is now absolutely dead last.
Mr Matt Brown: You are talking it down again.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: No, I am not, I am talking about your record. I am not talking about the State; we love the State, we just don't like you. That is a pretty clear proposition. Economic growth, last; construction work, last; dwelling starts, last. In overall ranking in every single statistic we are last. That is what CommSec says.
Mr David Harris: When was that?
Mr MIKE BAIRD: That was released last month. Thank you for asking. The Queensland Labor Treasurer, Andrew Fraser, seems a reasonable bloke. He has a good understanding of economics and is, in fact, quite a credible economic commentator, particularly in relation to this point. He said on the ABC last month, "Everybody knows the New South Wales economy has been the basket case economy of the last decade." That is their own Queensland Treasurer.
Mr Matt Brown: He is not ours.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: He is your Queensland Treasurer.
Mr Matt Brown: Point of order: I just want to point out to the member for Manly that Queensland is a separate jurisdiction.
The DEPUTY-SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: That is what they are reduced to: cheap political stunts, cheap political interjections. For the past decade this economy has gone backwards. I have gone through the statistics. On unemployment there has been slight movement today the graph of the past 10 years gives a better picture: we have been well above the national average for most of the past six years. In that context there has been a long trend of underperformance and an absolutely disgraceful effort in economic management. Let us look at the impact on the ground. Last week in Bankstown 350 jobs were lost: they went to Melbourne. A 30-year veteran on the Boeing factory floor—this is the cost of mismanagement; this is the cost of pursuing spin over economic policy—said, "I wish this State Government would play a bit more of a role. It seems the Victorian government has and New South Wales misses out again."
The latest Sensis report on business confidence shows New South Wales declining more than any other State—from minus 26 per cent to minus 38 per cent. In fact, the author of the report said, "Small business support for the New South Wales Government is the lowest in the nation by a considerable margin."
The Liberals and Nationals have argued that in the global financial crisis we should have supported businesses by cutting payroll tax while they were trying to hang on to jobs and grow. At the same time we should establish infrastructure to attract talent and get the economy moving.
