Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Speaker. That's why I began by saying under this government inflation is down, wages are up and unemployment is low, and that's been deliberate. And there is an alternative over there. Those opposite think there's $350 billion in cuts ripe for the picking in the budget. Australians should know that the $350 billion in cuts includes pension indexation, natural disaster funding, hospitals and bulk-billing, housing, TAFE and support for veterans. They are coming after all of that, but they'll tell you about it later. They won't come clean on costs or cuts, and that puts every Australian at risk.

Another reason why this matters and why the contrast is so important is he needs to find $600 billion for this nuclear insanity. He has to find it somewhere, and last time he went after Medicare. It's a stark choice at the election this year: a coalition of cuts and conflict and culture wars making Australians worse off and taking the country backwards, or this prime minister and this Labor government getting inflation down, helping with the cost of living and building Australia's future. (Time expired)

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