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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The budget is the budget for the budget and the forward estimates period. That is what the Leader of the Opposition asked me, and the answer is $606 billion. Look it up. It is in the budget papers. Knock yourself out. I can also inform him that gross debt peaks as a percentage of GDP at 30.7 per cent in 2018-19. That is what it says in the budget.

But I will tell you something else about debt. What this government has done by constraining expenditure is lower the rate of growth in debt by two-thirds. We have taken a growth rate in expenditure under the 'spend everything' policies of those opposite at over 3.5 per cent, and we have got that down to two per cent and under. Those opposite used to say, 'We will keep expenditure below two per cent growth,' but they never achieved it. It went to over 3.5 per cent. But under our budget we got it below two per cent and we continue to keep it there. And we continue to have a projected balance in 2021.

The other thing we have done in this budget is ensure that in 2018-19—that is just over 12 months away—for the first time in a long time we will no longer be putting on increased debt to pay for everyday expenditure. Those opposite put everyday expenditure on the credit card, and we all know that when you do that it never ends well. Under Labor it did not end well.

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