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

Give me odds, come on, give me odds. I will take the odds. The Labor member wants to give me odds and I am sure he can give me better odds than anyone else. Do you know why? If the Labor Party has a $15 billion blow-out in the budget deficit in just six months, how can they possibly be trusted to deliver a surplus in September 2013, let alone demanding that we commit to it. They cannot commit to it and they are in government. They are the ones with thousands of public servants and they cannot commit to it.

The problem the Labor Party has, as the member for Lyne said, goes to credibility. People no longer trust them at their word. They no longer trust the Labor Party at what it says. When they say they will not have a carbon tax, they have a carbon tax. When they say they will do something about poker machines, they do not do anything on poker machines. When the Prime Minister gave a commitment to the Greens about dental care, she then goes and breaks her word. She has broken her written word to the member for Denison. She has broken her spoken word to the Australian people. She has broken her solemn word to the member for Griffith about loyalty as Deputy Prime Minister. If you cannot trust them with their own words you cannot trust them with the economy. (Time expired)

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