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

I thank the honourable member for Corangamite for her question and note that, because we have laid down a budget that asks people to contribute so that we can build, that is how we are able build the East West Link in Victoria, which is going to make a substantial difference in Melbourne and also to Geelong—cutting three hours of travel time from Geelong into Melbourne each week, which is a productivity improvement. But we can only do that if we are allowed to get on with the job of fixing the mess that was left behind by Labor.

They have left us $667 billion of debt if no action is taken immediately—in 10 years time $667 billion of debt. That is $25,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia as a result of what Labor did in just six years. That is nearly $3 billion a month in interest. Even now we are paying about $1 billion a month in interest on the debt left behind by Labor. And here is the interesting thing: 70 per cent of that $1 billion a month goes to people living overseas who we have borrowed money from. Seventy per cent of that money, $700 million, every month is being sent by the Australian government to people who are living overseas to pay the interest on the debt that Labor left behind.

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