David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wakefield for his question. The member for Wakefield knows that the clearest sign of a strong economy is a surplus and that is what this government is delivering. A surplus is the best defence we can provide against any future shocks in the global economy but, importantly, it is also a means by which we can provide the Reserve Bank with all the room that it needs in order to cut interest rates, if it chooses to do that, and to pass on the benefits of that to families right around our country.

The member for Wakefield asked me about how we are spreading the benefits of the economy through this budget. We are doing that in many respects. But we are a government that understands that whilst we are experiencing a mining boom there are many families—and many businesses around our country and our communities—that are not receiving the benefits of that boom. That is why we are determined to spread the benefits of the boom and that is what this budget does. When it comes to the position of those opposite in relation to these matters, we have already seen that, apart from the fact that they cannot accept that Labor will deliver a surplus, they now find themselves in the situation where they are standing between us and the families right around this country that we want to deliver a schoolkids bonus to. We know that they are very unhappy about the budget and the return to surplus, because that is bad for them politically; it is good for the country but it is bad for them politically. But we also know that they now say that they will in fact support the increases to the family tax benefit part A; they say that—even though they have consistently maintained the position that they will oppose the mining tax and oppose any of the benefits that are yielded by that. In fact, the member for North Sydney is on the record, consistently, saying:

The Coalition is opposed to the mining tax. We can’t make promises that can’t be paid for.

We will rescind this tax in government and we will unwind the expenditure linked to it. This is fiscally prudent. It would be irresponsible to keep the expenditure without the supporting revenue.

Then they say they are going to support measures linked to the mining tax—and they have just exposed the fact that they have no capacity to pay for them. By their very own words they are damned. They have a $70 billion crater and it just keeps getting bigger. They keep digging and digging and digging. If this black hole got any deeper, we would need a Stephen Hawking documentary to try and uncover exactly what was inside of it.

When it comes to their black hole, the day of reckoning is approaching. In two days time, or tomorrow night, the Leader of the Opposition will have the opportunity to spell out exactly what savings he will make. If he does not take that opportunity, we know his black hole will only get bigger. (Time expired)

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