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

Yes, I withdraw, Mr Speaker. We have got the Leader of the Opposition and we have got the shadow Treasurer and the shadow finance spokesman, who have all abandoned their commitment to a surplus. Despite all of the time asserting that deficits produce higher interest rates and they are going to mean the end of the world, they have now abandoned their commitment to a surplus not just in 2012-13 but in the years that follow that as well, Mr Speaker. And what is one of the reasons why they have done that? Well, I can tell you one of them: so that they can give a big fat tax cut to Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer. That is one of their objectives. That is why their budget is completely out of control. We also know it is out of control because the shadow Treasurer has now confessed that he really did say there was a $70 billion crater in their budget bottom line.

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