Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Let me explain to the Leader of the Opposition the fundamentals of this budget. This budget is bringing the budget back into surplus in 2012-13, as promised. That has meant that we have needed to take a series of tough decisions. We did not want to see in this budget the profligacy of the Howard years during mining boom mark 1. Consequently, when you look at this budget, you see an average increase in expenditure of one per cent, compared with an average increase in expenditure of 3.6 per cent under the Howard government. We are being so rigorous on bringing the budget back to surplus in 2012-13, exactly as promised, because we are determined to continue to deliver to the Australian people a strong economy which gives them the benefit of jobs—750,000 created already, with another half a million to be created in the years to come. So, yes, there have been some tough decisions taken in this budget in relation to savings.

On the family payments question that the Leader of the Opposition raised, let me say what the actual information is.

See this speech in context