Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

They have engaged in a species of intergenerational theft. That is what they have engaged in. Under members opposite, there was $123 billion of cumulative debt, $667 billion of debt, $123 billion of accumulated deficits—that is the problem that we are wrestling with. We will not shirk the difficult decisions needed to engage in the job of fiscal repair, because we understand and we believe the Australian people understand that, if you want to fix the economy, you have got to fix the budget first, and that is exactly what this government will do.

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