Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to evidence in Senate estimates yesterday that the duplication of the Pacific Highway will cost an additional $7 billion above everything that is provided in the forward estimates. How will the Treasurer meet the Prime Minister's promise to complete this project by 2016 and still return the budget to surplus by 2012-13?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Through a prudent fiscal policy and strict fiscal discipline, and working with state governments who will have to bear their share of the burden. We will do that in both those ways. I will tell you what: we have shown a lot more interest in the Pacific Highway than those opposite. I happen to know our commitments are much larger than theirs, and we have put them all in our budget and they are all funded.

We have a commitment and a priority for the Pacific Highway that those opposite never had. The other thing that they will not do is tell anybody how they are going to fund any of their commitments. How would they fund the Pacific Highway?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr Speaker. As the member for Mackellar pointed out yesterday, there is provision in the standing orders for a minister, if he does not know the answer to a question, to simply say so and return to the House later and answer the question. He is clearly not answering the question and I would ask you to draw him back to the question or sit him down.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. The Treasurer will respond to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As someone who has travelled the Pacific Highway a lot in my life, one of the things that I am proudest of in this budget is the commitment of $1 billion to the Pacific Highway. I am really proud of that. I am proud of the performance of our roads minister here, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, who has made a very big commitment to the Pacific Highway and, of course, the Independent members, who have a real interest in this highway. I know how dangerous this highway is because I am a Queenslander and I have driven it all my life. We have a commitment there that has not been there from those opposite. Our total commitment is $4.1 billion, compared to the Howard government's $1.3 billion. That is the answer to your question.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Boothby.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Treasurer.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Sorry, no. The member for Boothby will resume his seat. I made a mistake—and I admit mistakes. Not many people here do.

Opposition members interjecting—

The difference was that the Chief Government Whip was on his feet.

Honourable members interjecting—

He was not. I do not really appreciate the very smart way that I have these arguments with senior members of the frontbench in this manner. If the member for North Sydney has a problem when I correct the mistake that I made, he can raise a point of order. It was not a mistake. The incident that he remembers from earlier in the week was about the rotation of the call. I gave the call on the rotation. The fact that maybe the Leader of the Opposition was a little slow is not something that I highlighted at the time. But I will not, when I can recover from a mistake and I have admitted a mistake, have it challenged in the way that the member for North Sydney did.