Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I liked the old Adelaide Airport; it had a Casablanca feel to it. We believe in responsible borrowing. Firstly, the borrowing is modest and affordable. We have a strategy for paying it. We are offsetting our new spending with savings measures. We have long-term discipline holding down expenditure and we will allow revenue and the tax base to recover normally as the economy grows in order to make up for the collapse in revenues that has occurred. That is what we will do. This approach halves the temporary deficit in three years and returns the budget to surplus in six years. Our debt will be much lower than that of any of the major advanced economies around the world. Our debt will be manageable by these standards.

There was a bit of talk about the member for Dawson’s seat. In this budget, the seat of Dawson has received $75.7 million. There is $1.3 million for the Harrup Park Country Club for a new building with international standard changing rooms, media facilities, administration offices and improved amenities. There is $3.3 million over four years for the National Mine Safety Framework to protect miners in the Bowen Basin, which is a good project. There are six nation-building projects worth $62 million, including two new projects, $30 million for maintenance work along the Bruce Highway, and $10 million for safety enhancement work in known accident zones. The member is delivering to Dawson. (Time expired)

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