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

The IMF recently found that, in the six years from 2012 to 2018, Australia's real expenditure growth is forecast to rise by nearly 16½ per cent, which is twice the average of the rest of the IMF and double the IMF 17 advanced economies. So Labor has locked-in expenditure growth higher than any other of the top 17 nations in the IMF.

On the weekend, the Leader of the Opposition asked the question at the launch of the Western Australian Senate campaign: 'Do we give power to those who seek to whittle away our standard of living?' It is really a rhetorical question, because, as Dr David Gruen illustrated in a number of speeches—and as you can see on this graph—Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, under Labor there is actually a significant drop in the standard of living.

See this speech in context