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

Mr Speaker, I was making the point that fiscal policy is tight and fiscal policy is getting tighter. That is the point that I was making. Of course it has been the point that has been made today and last night by any number of market economists. I will quote Tim Toohey, Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs: 'It proposes a budget that represents the biggest fiscal contraction since 1970, when comparable data commenced. The budget makes a genuine attempt to keep its commitment to return the budget to surplus.'

The opposition are out there quoting all sorts of people. Moody's said: 'Australian government debt remains the lowest of all AAA rated governments in the world.' The fact is we do have a fiscal position which is the envy of the world. We have low net debt compared to any of our peers and we have the strictest fiscal policy in place as we go forward, not just over the forward estimates but in the years ahead.

What this government will not do is what the coalition government did when, at the height of a mining boom, they went on a spending spree. They neglected to invest in infrastructure and skills and they had 10 interest rate rises in a row. I am sure everybody in Australia understands that. We understand how important it is that government actions do not compound price pressures which flow from the investment pipeline that we are seeing. That is why we have in place a fast fiscal consolidation. The only threat to those fiscal settings are those opposite, and if they want to vandalise the surplus, they will live with the consequences.

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