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

They did put it in their numbers, but they have not told us what they are going to do. If you accept that then you believe in the tooth fairy. There is no figure that can be validly put in any calculation, but the one thing you can be absolutely sure that we will do on this side of the House is that we will put in place fiscal responsibility because we are determined to bring our budget back to surplus in 2012-13, despite the fact there has been a significant hit to revenues from events that have occurred in Europe and the United States. There has been a flow-on effect, but we understand the importance of having a clear and consistent fiscal policy, particularly at a time when there is such uncertainty in the global economy. We will send a clear message to markets and to the global economy that we will manage our economy in a fiscally responsible way, and that is what we are going to do by bringing our budget back to surplus in 2012-13 and making responsible savings to do it when we bring down the mid-year review.

We will see where they stand on fiscal responsibility because the shadow Treasurer has got a $70 billion crater in his budget bottom line and, before he takes any new policy decisions, he starts with a minus $70 billion in his budget line. All of that is on the back of the debacle of the $11 billion black hole, which was discovered by the departments of Finance and Treasury.

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