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

I get it now—we copied it and they tried to destroy it. Where are they coming from? There is no coherent framework over there, and there was none from the Leader of the Opposition at the Press Club today. There has not been a single position of economic responsibility shown by those opposite. They promise bipartisanship and then oppose everything in the House, including the surplus that the government is using to protect the economy, households and businesses from the impact of the global financial crisis. It is going to get tough. We have had the midyear economic review and we have modest growth and modest surpluses. We worked hard in the budget to build a strong surplus to give the flexibility that we have now used to protect the Australian economy. At every step of the way we were opposed by those opposite, who now claim to believe in surpluses they were trying to destroy. What you will see from this government is responsible economic management, and what we have seen from those opposite is complete irresponsibility day in, day out.

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