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

I do thank the shadow Treasurer for that question. I think it is the case that we have seen in the national accounts that the Australian economy is robust and that the Australian economy is resilient. It is also the case that we have seen a very unique set of circumstances emerge—particularly on the revenue side of our budget. This unique set of circumstances is driven by a combination of events that we have not seen in the economic history of our country: on one hand, a declining terms of trade, and on the other hand, a very high dollar. The consequence of that has been that there is a challenge to our revenue. At the end of last year, I very clearly made the point to the Australia people that this government's priority would always be to support growth and to support jobs.

I made that point at the end of last year very deliberately, because it would have been deeply irresponsible of this government to cut harder, to cut back on jobs and growth, in the face of what was a very significant revenue downturn. That was the consequence of a set of events in our economy that we have not seen ever before. We have now seen nominal GDP growth go below real GDP growth for three quarters in a row. The point that I want to make is this: this government will always put jobs and growth first.

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