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

No, it is not. What this government stands for is jobs and growth and in our time in office there have been over one million jobs created—one million jobs—and 500,000 jobs created in the last three years. We have put in place a range of policies to ensure that that continues. It would have been deeply irresponsible in the circumstances of this year's budget to come back to surplus quicker because the effects of that would have been on Australians in small businesses right around our country. So it is very clear now what the contrast is in this House between the policies of the government and the opposition. We stand for jobs and growth. The logic of their position is very clear: they stand for savage cuts to public expenditure to come back to surplus at any price and at any cost. That is the very clear contrast.

We get this fiscal fearmongering from those opposite. They go around and talk our economy down, exaggerate the levels of debt, and what is that all about? It is all about the fact that they do not want to tell the Australian people what they would do if they were in power, which is a Newman-style austerity program, which will slash jobs in the Australian community and make massive cuts to health and education.

We on this side of the House are proud of the fact that our No. 1 priority—it is in our DNA—is to support jobs and growth. It is the responsible thing to do in the circumstances in which we find ourselves as a nation. Global uncertainty demands that what we do is support growth with a responsible level of debt and deficit. That is an important thing to do. The contrast was there during the global financial crisis when those opposite refused to support our stimulus. Indeed, the Leader of the Opposition slept right through the critical vote. He was drunk and did not come into the House. He slept right through that vote—

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