Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his question, and I note there are 51 projects, worth over $21 million, scheduled in his electorate. Forty-five of those projects relate to schools. I note also that the members of the opposition voted against all of these projects when they came into the parliament. The government is committed to nation building for recovery through building infrastructure throughout Australia, whereas the opposition is committed to opposing this.

I note that there have been a number of criticisms of projections and figures in the budget, from a variety of sources but most particularly from the member for North Sydney. Yesterday the government, sadly, was not allowed to describe the member for North Sydney as ‘sloppy’ in his approach. It is a pity, because that is about the kindest adjective I can think of to describe his performance. Other words like ‘inaccurate’, ‘innumerate’ and ‘incoherent’ might come to mind, because yesterday the member for North Sydney asserted in the parliament that, in order to return the Commonwealth balance sheet to a debt-free position in the time frame projected by the budget, it would be necessary to run surpluses of two per cent of GDP or more for a period of eight years. Unfortunately, he appears to have done this calculation on the back of an envelope on the spur of the moment, and he has missed one very salient point. He appears to have taken the peak number of net debt, divided it by the figure of eight—for the period of eight years—and come up with $25 billion, which of course is roughly two per cent of GDP now. But it will not be two per cent of GDP in 10 years time. Guess what, Member for North Sydney: GDP grows over time—an extraordinary revelation for a would-be Treasurer!

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