Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

After that performance, I am not sure where to begin. I will give the parliamentary secretary one bit of credit: he can certainly talk. He can make it up as he goes along but he knows enough in his heart of hearts that the one thing that he cannot say is, 'This government guarantees a surplus.' We did not hear the Assistant Treasurer say that he would guarantee a surplus, we have not heard the Treasurer guarantee a surplus and we cannot get the Prime Minister to guarantee a surplus. And that is because the big drift has begun. The MYEFO was released last Monday. It is not even two weeks old—it is eight days old—and already the big drift has started. They are starting to pave the way to once again walk away from a guarantee of a surplus. They cannot say today that they guarantee that surplus. But they have guaranteed it in the past; they have given numerous guarantees.

The only guarantee from this government that the Australian people can rely on is that any guarantee is a guarantee that this government will break their word. Any guarantee is a guarantee that the position will be reversed. We have had surpluses guaranteed. We have budget outcomes guaranteed. We have had budget deficit projections guaranteed. But the one thing that we know about this government is that as soon as they say the word 'guarantee' you can be sure that they will walk away from it.

We have seen it on the carbon tax and now we are seeing it on their guarantee of a surplus. The shadow Treasurer outlined early today in this parliament how on 150 occasions the Treasurer has given a rock-solid guarantee about his surplus. But we only have to look at the history of Labor's rock-solid, solemn forecasts. Let's have a look at them.

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