Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

And what was his answer? He said that the states do borrow—they borrow for infrastructure and they have been doing it for 100 years—and borrowings are necessary to keep our economy strong. That was his answer. How does it not put pressure on interest rates? His answer was that it does not put pressure on interest rates because it is the Labor Party that is borrowing—’Labor borrowing good; coalition surplus bad!’ This is one of these whitebread politicians that Gary Gray used to complain about. He practises his doorstops for the day in the mirror. Remember the day we caught him with his press secretary mouthing the words—they had been practising all morning—‘Labor borrowing good; coalition surplus bad.’

There is one level of government that is saving money and living within its means. It is the coalition. There is another level of government that is in deficit and that is borrowing and it is the Labor Party. It always was thus. You cannot trust Labor with money. You cannot trust them at the state level and when they were last in government you could not trust them at the federal level either.

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