Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to respond to the member for Rankin. Firstly, it is not only us who are telling the Australian people that we have to reduce spending; it is groups like the IMF, who said of 17 leading economies in the world Australia has the fastest rate of spending, the independent Parliamentary Budget Office and the independent Commission of Audit, who said that we are on a trajectory of spending that we cannot continue. That is why we have had to take measures in this budget.

I am very happy to tell the member for Rankin that when it comes to the COAG Reform Council we are saving $8.3 million over the forward estimates. It might be news to the member for Rankin that the state that he comes from—Queensland—is also going to benefit, because the states are going to save just over $10 million—

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