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

$290 billion by Christmas. And the Treasurer comes in to question time and says it is not a problem. He expects the Australian people and every business to look back at his track record of utter failure to hit a target and see a miss on the budget outcome by $20 billion in six months and believe, '$290 billion, we are getting close to the 300,' and we got confirmation it will go over $300 billion next year. That is why the Australian people have lost confidence in the honesty and the competency of this government.

The Treasurer likes to compare Australia to Europe on economic growth, on jobs and particularly on debt. But we on this side of the House say to the Treasurer: do not compare us with the worst runners. If you are competing against sprinters on crutches, that does not make you Usain Bolt, it really doesn't. The Treasurer knows that. As we have seen, the Assistant Treasurer does not know that. The Treasurer knows in his heart of hearts, the Assistant Treasurer does not know, and we will see whether the parliamentary secretary can inject a bit of substance and a bit of honesty into the debate where the Assistant Treasurer failed so dismally.

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