Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We note the figures that have come out today in terms of the improvement in business and consumer confidence. These figures will move around and they will go up and down, and the way you earn confidence is to have the policies that backup that confidence. What we know as a government is that if we continue to focus on the path that we have been on—that is, to put in place the savings measures and to control the expenditure in the way we have and grow the economy—then we can return the budget to balance over time. I particularly want to commend the member for North Sydney, the former Treasurer, for the excellent work that he has done in building the strong foundation for what we—

Opposition members interjecting—

continue to work on as we move the budget towards surplus over time.

We have reduced real growth and government expenditure from 3.6 per cent on average per annum, as it was under Labor, down to 1.5 per cent on average in the 2015-16 budget and the forward estimates. We have implemented a total of 332 budget measures out of a total of 407. We have delivered $9.4 billion in expenditure savings from the 2015-16 budget already. Overall, since the 2013-14 MYEFO, some $85 billion worth of budget improvement measures, which includes over $64 billion in savings, has been delivered to ensure a stronger budget.

What have those opposite learned from this process and from their time of excessive spending? They currently have $57 billion worth of commitments and failures to support savings. They add up like this: $3.6 billion in budget measures that they themselves put forward that they refuse to support today, $14.7 billion in budget repair measures that we have put forward that they refuse to support, $33½ billion in spending measures that they want to see restored from savings that we have put forward, $10.3 billion in promises they have made since the 2015-16 budget and $3.8 billion in new and increased taxes. What have they learned in terms of savings to pay for that $57 billion-odd? There is $1.3 billion in taxes, but then they— (Time expired)

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