Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the Treasurer's promise in the budget just three months ago: 'The government will return the budget to surplus in 2012-13.' I also refer the Prime Minister to the Treasurer's statement that this commitment has become an 'objective' or, today, a 'determination'; the finance minister's statement that it is now a 'plan'; the Assistant Treasurer's statement that it is now a 'guiding principle'; and the Prime Minister's own statement that it is now an 'expectation'. Is the Prime Minister's promise of a surplus in 2012-13 going the same way as her promise that 'there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead'?

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