Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

And interest rates. Of course, it did not. The legacy of those opposite is inflation at a 16-year high. It has fallen to those on this side of the House to tackle that challenge. Our budget did precisely that—building a $22 billion surplus which is now being vandalised in the Senate by those opposite. Of course, we know why that is the case: it is at the instigation of the member for Wentworth. If he spent more time thinking about policies to fight inflation than asking people about his haircut, the inflation-fighting surplus that we have put in place would not have been voted against today. But it gets worse than that. We know why the focus group was taking place. We have got the real answer. We got it from Tony Abbott on 3AW yesterday. This is what Mr Abbott had to say about his leader—

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