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

No—spending $120 billion more than they take. This is the real issue before the House tonight. We do not know where the money is coming from. That is the reason we are $280 billion in debt. We know that the Labor Party are going to spend and spend and spend between now and the next election—not their money but borrowed money, money for policies they know they will never have to implement. It is about time they were honest with the Australian people and started to tell us exactly what they would do after the next election, were they to be re-elected.

The Labor Party have form. We are coming into the spring racing carnival and it is really important to follow the form. We know the form of the Australian Labor Party. We know the form of the Australian Greens. The Australian Greens usually advertise. They like people to know what they stand for. I am shocked and horrified that the member for Melbourne and Senator Milne do not want this information released. They want to hide this information, to keep it under lock and key. They are using the very questionable tactics of the FOI Act and I say again that the Information Commissioner needs to have a good hard look at this because this is information that the Australian public needs to know. This information should be released. The phoney excuse that these documents were prepared for the dominant purpose of being considered by cabinet needs to be put aside. The Treasurer should do the right thing and this evening, during this debate, come into this chamber, put the documents on the table and give everyone a look at the lunacy that it will cost Australian taxpayers—billions and billions more in the future. (Time expired)

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