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

I know the shadow Treasurer is highly embarrassed by the fact that he was part of what is the highest-taxing government in Australian history and that now, comparatively, our levels of expenditure as a percentage of GDP are quite low. That is the point that I made. We have put in place very strict expenditure control in the most difficult of circumstances. When you were in government you went on a spending spree—you pushed the expenditure ratio through the roof and you also pushed the tax-to-GDP ratio through the roof. What was the outcome of that? Ten interest rate rises in a row.

So we are happy to have a debate about growth and jobs, about who has got the policy framework to support employment, because there are millions of Australians depending on the judgements that are made in this House.

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