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

Certainly. I was also asked about the economy.

Opposition members interjecting—

I am sorry—if you cannot understand a question from the member for Dickson, you are not going too well. I was asked about an alleged hole in the budget and I am responding to that by talking about the strength of our economy and our economic fundamentals and about the commentary that our unemployment is remarkably low, our debt-to-GDP compares very favourably on all measurements and our inflation is low. So who do you reckon might have said that? Which leading Liberal? Which living Liberal leader might have said that? It was John Howard who said that. So when they come in here to run their scare campaign about our budget, they cannot climb over that assessment of the Australian economy. Nor can they climb over the assessments by the IMF, the OECD and most other reputable bodies.

The fact is that we have put in place a responsible fiscal policy in this country and we have done that over five years. We stimulated our economy to support jobs, now we are coming back to surplus and our economy is growing. What we are doing is paying down debt. That is precisely what a responsible government does in these circumstances, and it is precisely what those opposite cannot do because they have a $70 billion hole in their budget bottom line and the fact is they have got an agenda to slash in health and education just like New South Wales and Queensland.

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