Howard defends Abbott economic team

Former prime minister John Howard has defended the coalition's current economic
team, while insisting the debate over floating the dollar and deregulating banks
ended 25 years ago.
Mr Howard on Tuesday countered criticism of shadow treasurer Joe Hockey and
opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb over comments the pair have made on the two
key economic policy areas.
The comments came after Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday night told a business
dinner in Canberra the coalition had slipped into "economic Hansonism" with its
calls for greater controls on banks and the Australian dollar.
But Mr Howard said Mr Hockey and Mr Robb were simply commenting on the
responsibility of government to respond to particular economic developments.
"I don't hear either of them saying that we should re-regulate interest rates or we
should abandon the float," Mr Howard told Sky News on Tuesday.
Mr Hockey last week suggested the government could use a variety of measures to
ensure banks did not gouge borrowers with interest rate rises, while Mr Robb
recently urged action as Australian dollar approached parity with the US dollar.
Mr Robb said at the time that the government should slash spending to reduce
pressure on the currency and provide relief for exporters.
"I think they're just making comments about the obligations of the government to
express a view about the impacts of particular economic developments," Mr Howard
said.
"The debate in Australia about a floating exchange rate and controlled interest
rates ended 25 years ago, and it's not going to return."
"Nobody I hear is advocating a controlled exchange rate. It's impossible to have a
controlled exchange rate in an open, still relatively small economy like
Australia's."
Mr Howard also rejected Ms Gillard's claim that the comments from the coalition's
economic team reflected a shift in the coalition to "economic Hansonism", describing
it as Labor spin.
"This is the latest suggestion from the spin doctors - `Let's give economic
Hansonism a run and see if it gains any traction,'" he said.
"If you look at the scorecard of the two sides of politics in the last 10 years, the
Labor Party has been far more interventionist and far less enthusiastic about market
forces than the Liberal Party."



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