Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

in a complete shock and upset outcome—I did want to clarify something, as I offered to do before, in the interests of putting some clarity in this debate, putting some fact as opposed to thunder into this debate. In the proposed coalition amendment, under item 3 in the table the coalition proposed an item, among others, that would have to be included in this tax receipt. Item 3 refers to the level of Australian government net debt at the end of the financial year and at the end of the previous financial year. So the coalition are proposing that this information is a must have in this must-have receipt. I did say in an earlier contribution that this number was not available until August. I was therefore making the point that, if in a rush of blood to the head we voted for this coalition excitement, tax returns lodged on 1 July—

See this speech in context