David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

The point I was making—and it goes very much to the question that was asked—goes to the issue of revenue write-downs and the impact that that has had on the capacity of the government to return the budget to surplus in the timely fashion that we had expected. Of course, this budget sets out forecasts in terms of when we hope to return the budget to surplus, and that is a couple of years down the track. But I make this point to the member for Casey: our tax to GDP ratio is sitting at about 21.5 per cent of GDP. If the member for Casey believes that the opposition would be able to return the budget to surplus any faster than the government is seeking to do—

Mr Tony Smith interjecting—

I am happy to talk about newsletters. In fact, I am surprised that those opposite would want to talk about the distribution of newsletters in my electorate given the shameful contribution in the past seeking not just to mislead people in a very provocative way to do so in a way that was seeking to incite hatred. I am talking about the pamphlets that were distributed by your then colleague and various others in relation to the so-called Lindsay leaflet scandal. So when it comes to these ridiculous claims about pamphlets, I would have thought that you would be the last people that would want to come forward and make those claims. We stand very much behind the record of what we have achieved. (Time expired)

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