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

You cannot believe I’m doing it, Leader of the Opposition, because you got up here and did not tell the truth about the amount of debt you are supporting in this economy. That is why I am bringing it up. You stood up and said that we had a plan for $200 billion worth of debt and you had a plan for none. How dishonest can you get? You know very well that if you were in government you would have to borrow for the revenue losses. You know that. One hundred and fifteen billion dollars has to be borrowed because of what has been imposed on this economy by the global recession. You are simply not telling the truth. You are going down through that use of slippery barrister talk and being deliberately dishonest.

Thirdly, Leader of the Opposition, you went on to argue that, compared to international stimulus packages, ours is too big. That is simply untrue. Ours is two per cent in the calendar year ’09, and you know that. But of course, once again, you come in here distorting the figures. You came in here and said to us: ‘What are we going to do about our children? Think of the kiddies.’ That was the Leader of the Opposition’s lead pitch. Well, why don’t you think of the kiddies in the schools and of the gyms that you will not give them? Why don’t you think about that?

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