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

I thank the member for La Trobe for that question, knowing that he is someone who has long been an advocate of good budget management. The fact is that the government has an economic action strategy that is getting on with the job of helping to build a stronger and more prosperous economy with more and better paid jobs. Importantly, we are ensuring that we can maintain and improve our quality of life over time.

There are some good signs. There are of course bits of conflicting news from time to time but there are some good signs. As CommSec chief economist Craig James said in an article entitled 'Consumers are back in the groove' this morning, 'Aussie consumers are getting on with life'. That is right; they are getting on with it. Australian consumers are starting to pick up. That is coming about because they are starting to get more confidence about the way the economy is heading. They know that we have an economic action strategy to start to address the legacy of deficit left behind by Labor, which simply increased debt. If we were not to take any action the debt of the federal government would increase to $667 billion in 10 years time.

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