Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, we do it once and we do it properly, unlike you guys, with constant budget deficits—always more than you originally anticipated because you were not able to control spending. Even the member for Lilley, earlier this year on national radio, said that he knew the debt limit would have to be increased but that that would be somebody else's problem. What is the benefit of passing the problem off down the track to the never-never and hoping that somebody else will fix it? That is exactly the problem that we have; it is the reason we are in this situation.

Over the past six years we have witnessed the greatest deterioration in our nation's financial situation. We have seen a government that, despite over 30 tax increases, still racked up record budget deficits and almost $300 billion in debt. We have seen this example in Queensland as well, where the former Labor government stripped government entities of dividends over and above what was prudent. We have seen the situation arise with the Reserve Bank, where dividends have been stripped out, leaving the reserves for the bank below what they should be. Again through prudent economic management, we restored the reserves of the Reserve Bank. We make no apologies for that, because we want to set this economy up for future generations in this country—something the former Labor government never thought about. They just thought about the here and now.

This is about the future of this country. It is only a coalition government that is going to get our finances in order. That is what this bill is about—working to get our finances in order in a sensible, measured, methodical way for the future benefit of this great country.

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