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

So rather than invest in the needs of communities across the country—for the future of education, for the future of infrastructure and, as the minister for small business just indicated, taking action to create a seamless national economy for the benefit of small business—they instead did nothing. They sat there and played politics in government, as they play politics in opposition.

The other part of the honourable member’s question goes to the question of a temporary deficit. I draw the honourable member’s attention to what actually constitutes the elements of a budget. Firstly, on the revenue side, the honourable member’s attention should be drawn to the fact that, because of the global financial crisis, $40 billion has been sliced off the government’s revenues—as has happened across much of the OECD. I would draw the honourable member’s attention, for example, to what is happening in other economies. The conservative government of the United States is running a 4.6 per cent of GDP deficit, the conservative government of France is running a 3.9 per cent of GDP deficit, the conservative government of Germany is running a 0.8 per cent of GDP deficit, the conservative government of Italy is running a 2.9 per cent of GDP deficit, the conservative government of Japan—

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