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

I have not done any such thing. What we said before the election is that the so-called schoolkids bonus was a cash splash with borrowed money, and it had to stop. That is what we said. We said that the so-called schoolkids bonus was a cash splash with borrowed money, and it had to stop. We were absolutely upfront with the Australian people that this was an irresponsible promise that should never have been made.

What we see repeatedly from members opposite is hysterical outrage because measures that were simply unsustainable and should never have been put in place in the first place are quite properly being withdrawn by this government. Members opposite ripped off the future to try to sustain their present. That is what they did. They ripped off future generations of Australians shamelessly and shamefully. They ripped off the future in order to prop themselves up in office. It is contemptible behaviour from members opposite having booby-trapped the budget to now complain about our attempts—our perfectly proper attempts—to fix things for the benefit of millions of Australians as yet unborn, and every single Australian who deserves to have a country which can hold its head up high because it is living within its means.

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