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

We have outlined in unprecedented detail in the budget papers our medium-term fiscal policy, in a way which those opposite have never done. They claimed to be serious about an intergenerational report and then did nothing about it—so the task falls to us. The task falls to the Labor Party, in the teeth of the global recession, to protect our people by responsible borrowing, by investing in modernising our schools and by investing in infrastructure to support jobs and businesses in our community. What those opposite are so embarrassed about is that, if we take the proposition put by the shadow Treasurer here today to its logical conclusion, what they stand for is higher unemployment and more business failures—because all of these projects that are creating jobs and supporting businesses in our community would not be happening right now. To camouflage their lack of alternative they have to run this seedy campaign against the forecasts and the projections which have been put forward in good faith by the Commonwealth Treasury.

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