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

This government supports all of the measures that we put forward in the budget, because all of those measures are important to deliver the surplus that members opposite promised time and time again and never delivered. This is a government which is determined to get our budget back under control. This is a government which is determined to make our system sustainable. The only way to make the system sustainable is to take some tough but necessary decisions. Because for six years we had drift and betrayal we need to take the decisions which are necessary now in our national interest.

I would like to offer the member who asked the question this important insight. It is a very important insight. It says:

So in terms of life expectancy, 70 is the new 64. And in terms of health, 74 is the new 64.

With a steady decline in the share of backbreaking jobs, and ongoing improvements in medical technology, it is reasonable to expect these numbers to keep rising. Yet to look at many of the statutes on our books, you would think that none of these changes had ever occurred.

Who said that?

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