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

This juvenile behaviour is just extraordinary. It is absolutely juvenile. The estimates are all there; the member has just quoted from them. What I can say is that we are engaging in temporary borrowing to meet the requirements of this economy because of the very sharp contraction that has taken place.

Those opposite want to pretend that somehow, if they were in government, they would not be borrowing and they would not be paying down debt, but they will be, and that is the particular game that they are playing today. This government’s medium-term fiscal strategy is to pay down debt as quickly as we can. That is what the budget papers say and, as the member opposite knows, it gets down to the minuscule level of three per cent in the year that he mentioned. That is what happens—the minuscule amount compared to what is going on internationally, where comparable advanced economies in countries around the world have levels of net debt at about 80 per cent. So they should stop playing their silly political game and admit that debt is necessary to support jobs and that a medium-term fiscal strategy requires some long-term structural savings. So there is a moment of truth approaching for the shadow Treasurer, because he is going to have to show how he would pay down debt, and so will the Leader of the Opposition tomorrow night.

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