Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer, and I ask him to compare the following. The 1975 budget resulted in a turnaround from a surplus of $181 million, which represented 0.3 per cent of GDP, into a deficit of $1.4 billion, or 1.8 per cent of GDP. The announcement today in the government’s updated economic and fiscal outlook will result in a $22.5 billion deficit, or 1.9 per cent of GDP, a turnaround from the 2008 budget, which forecast a surplus of $21.7 billion, or 1.8 per cent of GDP. Does the Treasurer acknowledge that this government’s financial performance will be worse than Whitlam’s?

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