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

Sir Otto over there had this to say about what his position would be. The Leader of the Opposition was asked on AM this morning:

But just quickly, you would have engaged in some stimulus spending and there would have been a deficit?

He replied, ‘It may have been in deficit by a small amount or it may have been in surplus by a small amount with different policies.’ If he was going to have it in surplus, he is proposing spending cuts in one year alone of $50-odd billion. What a massive hit that would be to the economy, what a massive hit that would be to employment, what a massive hit that would be to businesses in the Australian economy. The sensible thing to do in this environment is to run a temporary deficit. If those opposite were in power, they would have to borrow to meet revenue write-downs. But what we get from Sir Otto over there is this deficit and debt con job, pretending somehow that they would not have to borrow to meet these circumstances. Well they would and it is about time that those opposite nominate where they would make their savings in these circumstances.

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