Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister told the Australian people before the election:

I will keep my commitments. We will do exactly what we say we will do.

I ask again: did the Prime Minister deceive the Australian people at the last election in order to get their votes?

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

The short answer is, no, of course we did not. We told the Australian people that we would tackle the debt and deficit disaster which the Labor Party created, which the Leader of the Opposition—the kingmaker, queen maker and manipulator of the former government—created. That is what we said. We told the Australian people that we would tackle the debt and deficit disaster that the Labor Party left this country, that we would tackle the intergenerational theft that the Labor Party practised on the people of this country. That is what we said we would tackle, and we are up for it. We were not elected to make easy decisions; we were elected to make tough decisions. We were not elected to be populist; we were elected to do what is right and necessary for this country.

I will gladly submit the budget that the Treasurer of this country will bring down tonight to the judgement of the people of Australia, because the people of Australia will know that this is a government which is up for the challenges of the day. This is a government which is prepared to confront the big decisions that it faces. This is a government which is prepared to enable the Australian people to be as great as we can be. That means fixing up the debt and deficit disaster because, if you do not fix the budget, you cannot fix the economy. Without a strong economy, we cannot be the strong society that every Australian wants to live in. I am very, very confident that when the Australian people see the budget tonight there will be some things that they like and there will be other things that they do not like. But they will know that the adults are back in charge and that they have a government that is capable of rising to the challenges of these times.