Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hasluck for his question and recognise that he knows, like most Australians know, that having responsible economic management is closely linked to responsible management of the budget. As I advised the House last week, the recent IMF assessment of comparisons between the 17 key economies identified that the Labor Party had locked in, from 2012, the largest percentage increase in spending of any of the top 17 countries in the world. Understand this: the Labor Party locked in increases in government expenditure at a higher rate than any other developed economy in the world—of the top 17 IMF countries identified. Our spending is growing faster than that of Korea, Canada, Germany, France and Japan. Some of those countries are printing money, they are spending so quickly. The Labor Party locked us in to the highest expenditure growth of any of the top 17 countries. But now there is more: the IMF has released a further assessment that says, 'For the six years 2012-18, Australia is forecast to have the third largest increase in net debt as a percentage of GDP.'

This is the legacy of Labor. They lock in expenditure growth at record levels and they lock in debt increases at record levels. Then they are in shock when savings have to be made to the budget and they are in shock when taxation increases. Labor do not have restraint. As we have heard today, senior Labor ministers in the previous government did not even understand their own portfolios, yet they act surprised when they see that the budget is forecast for 10 years of deficit—$123 billion of deficits over the next four years alone and $667 billion of debt. That is the legacy of Labor.

We are up for the task of fixing this mess. We are determined to fix the mess that Labor left behind. To the Labor Party: if it has not been sobering enough for you to lose an election, just walk down to the Senate and help us pass $20 billion of savings that we promised to help fix up the budget now.

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