Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I will add to the answer in two respects. This was a question in relation to the luxury tax on motor vehicles, and in my response I also dealt with the overall impact which that would have on the budget surplus if that tax was to be removed. I said it would result in some billions of dollars being removed from the budget surplus were the opposition to proceed with that measure, together with other measures, which they have put forward.

In fact, for the benefit of the House’s information, we have calculated that there have been opposed now some 20 budget savings measures—$2.9 billion in 2008-09; $3.1 billion in 2009-10; $3.4 billion in 2010-11; $3.2 billion in 2011-12. The opposition is opposed to a total, based on our estimates, of $13 billion in savings measures over the forward estimates, meaning there is a very basic and fundamental challenge for the Leader of the Opposition tonight, which is to indicate where these savings will be otherwise met within the budget.

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