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

I thank the shadow Treasurer for that question. I would like to go back to basics here because I think it is very important. We have put in place a responsible fiscal policy. We have set ourselves the objective to come back to surplus in 2012-13 and we are committed to doing that because our economy is growing around trend. That is precisely what we ought to do, given the strength and fundamentals of our economy, and that is what we have been working on for a number of years since the global financial crisis when we took the essential steps to support our economy, to support our communities, to keep people in work and to keep the doors of small business open.

Of course, we have always been able to find room for our Labor priorities. In some of the most dreadful conditions in 80 years we found room to put in place the most significant increase in the pension and we are very proud of that. We have tripled the tax-free threshold, a fundamental reform, which really delivers to many people on low and fixed incomes. We have done all those things because we have found responsible savings. It has been hard. We have worked very much in the budget to find those savings—$33 billion in our last budget, $100 billion before that. That has been the methodical, careful approach of the government, which stands in stark contrast to the approach of those opposite who simply want to slash and burn.

Their agenda is to slash and burn, like they are slashing and burning in Queensland and in New South Wales. We hear this afternoon that the Liberals in South Australia also have a new plan which is that, if elected to government, they will cut the public sector by—

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