Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Hansard source

As we have just heard from the member for Higgins, as well as from the member for Moncrieff and the member for Casey, it is becoming an unfortunate habit for people on this side of the House to have to clean up another mess of this government, but more particularly to clean up another mess of this Treasurer. The member for Moncrieff was right to highlight this Treasurer's appalling track record.

Mr Randall interjecting—

Yes, I take the member for Canning's interjection, that the member for Lilley is supposedly the world's greatest Treasurer. But one thing he will be remembered for is his consistency. As the member for Moncrieff pointed out, the Treasurer has been consistently about $20 billion wrong in every budget he has delivered. What is $20 billion between friends? Well when it comes to the Australian people, $20 billion amounts to about $192 billion worth of deficits. We have had year upon year of deficits from a Treasurer who claims to be in a position to deliver a surplus. And oh how he must hate former Treasurer Peter Costello; how he must hate that guy with his year after year of surpluses. What would the member for Lilley, the current Treasurer, give for just one surplus, just one? How he would love to be able to get out a black pen for once rather than continuously finding himself surrounded in red ink. But, alas, this Treasurer has put us into a position as a nation where we face an enormous deficit and a crisis of confidence in the community that I believe will be up to the coalition to repair come September this year if we are blessed with the vote of the Australian people.

Today's amendment had its genesis in this Treasurer's desperation, in his determination to secure just one surplus. We had this desperate Treasurer making desperate moves to try to prop up his already failing reputation and try to achieve that surplus. That was the one, that was the surplus that the Treasurer promised and the Prime Minister promised to the Australian people hundreds and hundreds of times. He promised it time and time again. In fact, he started his budget speech in 2012 by telling us the years of budget surpluses were upon us. That was his gold-plated guarantee to the Australian people, that he would deliver a surplus in 2012-13. But in this indecent rush to secure that surplus, he mucked it all up. That is why we are here today trying to clean up the mess, as the member for Moncrieff and others quite rightly pointed out and highlighted in their addresses tonight. As the member for Casey also mentioned in his comments to the House, there has not been one blush, not one hint of apology, not one request for forgiveness from this Treasurer.

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