Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have not heard much about confidence from your side and I do not think we will, Andrew. It is astonishing how yesterday members of this government, including the Treasurer, started to talk about the equitable nature of the budget. Putting aside for one minute the ludicrous nature of this claim, it is telling that it was made. It was another distraction. But it was yesterday's distraction; it has been forgotten about today because the budget is a failure in its own terms. Yesterday the Prime Minister said, 'This is the budget the Australian people elected us to bring down.' Really? Consumer confidence has collapsed since the budget was announced. It is at its lowest level for three years. That is not much of an adrenaline charge; it is more like a sedative. I am sure that members opposite have not been selling the budget assiduously in their communities.

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