Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I will get a copy and have a look at it, and I will give it good consideration from my own material, because we on our side know what it is like to deliver a surplus. Nine out of 11 budgets under the Howard-Costello government were surplus budgets. That is why we left you money in the bank, Assistant Treasurer Bradbury.

Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, you were here when Peter Costello was Treasurer. You remember those days very fondly, I know. You would remember that Peter Costello, when he announced a budget, followed through with the budget. He put the bills into the parliament, followed them through and had them delivered in the face of unrelenting opposition from the Labor Party, which opposed every decent measure. He delivered the budget. He did not come into this place, or send his Assistant Treasurer into this place, to unwind budget revenue measures without explanation. Why is it that this measure, which was announced on budget night, is being unwound without explanation? This is a very important question because it gets to confidence in the budget and to the ability of the government to deliver its surplus. Will the government have enough money to deliver its surplus? Will foreign investors know what the withholding rate will be when they invest in our country? We need this investment to help develop our great country even further. These are important questions.

The Assistant Treasurer—soon to be shadow Assistant Treasurer—has announced that there will be another piece of legislation. What will be in that legislation? Answer us that question. Will the revenue be the same? Give us an explanation—that is all we ask. (Time expired)

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