Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer him to a statement by the Minister for Finance and Deregulation on Lateline last night when he was asked, ‘What does the government mean when it talks about a budget surplus “over the cycle”?’ He said:

It doesn’t imply a specific cycle because economic cycles over time vary in the period of time which they relate to—

whatever that means. Treasurer, exactly what does the government mean when it says it will run a surplus over the economic cycle? Isn’t the definition of the budget cycle surpluses under the coalition and deficits under the Labor Party?

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