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

It is the figure that I said on radio this morning, 57.6. Can I say to those opposite the government welcomes a debate on debt and deficit, a debate which those opposite have joined with such vigour and clarity this morning; there has been such a sterling performance on the part of those opposite in having a uniform position on debt and deficit. You see, the position of the Liberals on this question is actually directly relevant to the question just asked by the Leader of the Opposition, because what they do in the Senate directly affects the shape of the deficit. We know from the last budget what happened with the blocking of various measures, both on the expenditure side and on the revenue side. We do not know from any of the statements which have been made so far what will happen in the Senate on this occasion and therefore the extent to which that affects what the government has by way of the final content of its proposed borrowing and deficit. Therefore the position of those opposite is not just of academic interest; it is of direct interest to the bottom line which will be delivered to the public revenue of the Commonwealth of Australia.

But there we were this morning—can you just picture it?—with those opposite signalling loud and clear: ‘We’re about to have a fusillade on debt and deficit today.’ You are over there in Fort Turnbull in the bunker and you are working out what is going to happen on this day, the first day after the budget. You are going to have a complete blitzkrieg on debt and deficit. So the whistle blows at 0700 and out you go and over the top and you have the field commander out there, the Leader of the Opposition, and the regimental sergeant-major, the member for North Sydney. Out they have gone ready to whack as one and at 0800 the shrapnel starts to fly. What happens then? The regimental sergeant-major is on Channel 7 and is asked a very direct question and that question is along these lines, so this is what Joe was asked: ‘How much debt would you support and how big a deficit would you support?’ The answer is as follows: ‘I’ll give you a figure as a starting point, at least $25 billion smaller.’ So thank you, Joe! Joe has given us a definitive number, 25 billion. Well, thank you very much.

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