Jonathan Swan and Judith Ireland
July 11, 2013
Kevin Rudd has used his first major speech since returning as Prime Minister to frame Tony Abbott as a doomsday prophesier without a credible economic plan for Australia’s future, while calling for a new ‘‘productivity pact’’ between business, unions and government.
Mr Rudd told the National Press Club on Thursday that he wanted to develop better co-operation between business, unions and the government, urging the three groups to develop a ‘‘new national competitiveness agenda’’.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addresses the National Press Club in Canberra. Photo: Andrew Meares
He said that over the past fortnight since resuming the top job, he had met four times with the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
‘‘I have done so because I have never believed in class warfare,’’ he said.
Despite ongoing criticisms from the Coalition over his reputation as Kevin 747, Mr Rudd confirmed he would be leaving for a two-day visit to Papua New Guinea on Sunday. This will be his second overseas trip since becoming Prime Minister, after his trip to Indonesia last week.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, pictured at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, said if Rudd wanted a debate he should call an election. Photo: Jason South
Mr Rudd had booked the Press Club as part of his public challenge to Mr Abbott for a series of debates, starting with a debate on the economy.
The Prime Minister exploited the Opposition Leader’s absence, after Mr Abbott said he would debate Mr Rudd only if he called an election or recalled Parliament. Mr Abbott was in Melbourne visiting the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.
‘‘[Tony Abbott] is the most conservative politician to become leader of the Liberal Party in its history,’’ Mr Rudd said.
‘‘He is particularly formidable in the art of negative politics.’’
The Opposition Leader did not want ‘‘to face the public scrutiny of an economic policy debate here at the National Press Club of Australia’’.
‘‘It is just plain wrong for anybody in our national political debate to be talking Australia down,’’ Mr Rudd said.
‘‘Of course there are things we need to reform.
‘‘But that is different to a daily diatribe of negative politics whose single objective is to cause the Australian people to feel that our national economy and our national security is on the verge of falling apart – if not now, then certainly by next Thursday afternoon.’’
The challenges the Australian economy faced were ‘‘entirely manageable’’, Mr Rudd said. But with the China resources boom coming off, Australia’s economic strategy must be one that ‘‘diversifies our economy’’ by creating more jobs in manufacturing, food production and service industries ‘‘rather than having all our eggs in just one basket’’.
The Labor Party would maintain a ‘‘prudent approach’’ to fiscal policy and return the budget to surplus as set out in the most recent budget, Mr Rudd said.
Framing Mr Abbott as ‘‘Captain Negative’’ in notes circulated before the speech, Mr Rudd suggested the Coalition has been talking down Australia’s economy.
‘‘But a 100 per cent diet of negative politics is bad for our nation,’’ Mr Rudd said.
‘‘It is bad for national confidence. And the truth is that it is a lazy substitute for the hard work that is needed to develop, argue and implement real policies that will change Australia for the better.’’
Mr Rudd said his optimism was not based on some ‘‘feel good factor’’ but on ‘‘cold, hard, rational analysis of the facts’’.
Abbott calls for election date
Mr Abbott reiterated on Thursday that he would not debate Mr Rudd unless Parliament resumed or an election was called.
‘‘If Mr Rudd is governing he can call back the Parliament and we will have debates every day,’’ he told reporters in Melbourne.
‘‘If Mr Rudd is campaigning, name the election date and we will have election debates.’’
He said Mr Rudd’s National Press Club speech seemed to be more about attacking the opposition than talking about what changes he would make to benefit the country.‘‘He had a plan to destroy a prime minister but doesn’t have a plan for the country,’’ Mr Abbott said.
Mr Rudd's speech quickly sparked criticism from other senior members of the Coalition.
"Was that it from Mr Rudd? Where was his plan to fix his past policy failures? Debt & deficit, his failed taxes, the boats?" shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann posted on Twitter.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey slammed Mr Rudd's speech on Thursday, saying there was nothing in it to make life easier for small businesses or to create more Australian jobs.
Mr Hockey told reporters in Brisbane that Mr Rudd had no policies.
''All he has is a policy about Kevin Rudd. And he has a stunt every day but he has no solutions.''
Mr Hockey said that Mr Rudd was in denial when it came to debt and deficit.
''Under the Labor Party, debt has grown faster in Australia than any other time since modern records have been kept."
He described Mr Rudd's plans for a productivity pact as ''more guff''.
''It's more Kevin Rudd rhetoric. It's more Kevin Rudd fakeness.''
Seven areas of policy focus
The Prime Minister said that in his talks with business and unions, seven broad areas of policy work had been agreed on.
This included the regulation of electricity prices, with Mr Rudd cautioning that the carbon price contributed less than 10 per cent to national electricity prices.
It also included business productivity, with Mr Rudd calling on the business sector to increase its engagement with Asia, particularly Indonesia.
Mr Rudd also told the Press Club that Australia needed to examine any ‘‘unintended rigidities’’ in the labour market and called on business to make more effective use of the Fair Work Act to drive productivity.
Mr Rudd said he wanted to see a productivity number to have a ‘‘‘2’ in front of it’’.‘‘The core of this new national competitiveness agenda must be a common agreement among us all that we must lift our annual productivity growth to 2 per cent or better for the future,’’ he said.
He noted that average labour productivity growth had fallen from 2.1 per cent a year during the 1990s to 1.4 per cent in the noughties, although he added it had risen to 1.6 per cent over the year to March.
Rudd to visit PNG
In response to a question is about the adequacy of unemployment payments, Mr Rudd confirmed that cabinet would look at the level of Newstart, as well as issue of the 84,000 single parents who were moved from the sole parent payment to Newstart on January 1 this year.
Mr Rudd said he did not want to raise expectations that anything could be done but noted, ‘‘we will be doing what we can’’.
Mr Rudd also confirmed he would travel to Papua New Guinea next week to meet with prime minister Peter O’Neill.
During his visit, scheduled for July 14-15, Mr Rudd will hold discussions with Mr O’Neill focusing on the Australian Aid Program, trade and investment.
