Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Treasurer. I ask the Assistant Treasurer to update the House on what the government is doing to strengthen the economy and bring government spending under control, and I further ask the Assistant Treasurer how the government's approach differs from previous approaches.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Casey for his question and his strong contribution to matters economic in this place. He is also one of a small band of optimistic Carlton supporters in this place. This budget delivers for families, jobs and growth and it reigns in government spending. We inherited government spending that was increasing at 3.6 per cent, and the IMF said that, of 17 OECD countries, Australia had the highest and fastest rate of spending growth. But as a result of our policies we have reduced spending growth to about 1.5 per cent over the forward estimates, and debt under us will be $110 billion lower than it would be under the Labor Party.

I was asked about any alternative approaches. The biggest alternative approach and the biggest risk comes from the Leader of the Opposition, the man sitting opposite. Consider this: in his budget-in-reply speech, the Leader of the Opposition spent an additional $220 million every minute. He started the speech with a $52 billion black hole and he finished the speech with a $58.6 billion black hole. Forget Lee Majors, the six million dollar man. We now have Bill Shorten, the sixty billion dollar man! Consider this: in Labor's year of big ideas, all the Leader of the Opposition can come up with is higher taxes. Whether it is a reheated carbon tax or whether it is a slug on people's super, more than 400,000 Australians' savings will be hit.

Consider this: the closest the Leader of the Opposition has ever come to a budget surplus was in the newsletter that he released to his electorate where he said:

… back to surplus on time, as promised …

Now, you can still get this community newsletter on his website today. It is still there. We know the Leader of the Opposition can be quite profound: 'The future is the present.'

…everybody is somebody.

And,

If you don't know where you're going, every road'll get you there.

But, dare I say it, he has matched it in a press conference during budget week. When asked about his economic plan for the country, he said:

If you can see down the road what's coming, then what you've got to do is get on with it and deal with it.

I do not know what Labor is dealing with, but it is definitely not dealing with the debt and deficit that Labor left behind.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. On national television last night, the Treasurer was asked how much he had cut from the foreign aid budget. The Treasurer replied:

Ah, well, I mean, from memory, it'd be well in excess of five billion, right. But we've done it on the basis—but don't hold me to that figure …

The Treasurer's own budget papers clearly show a massive $11.3 billion has been cut from foreign aid. Doesn't the fact that the Treasurer has no idea about some of the biggest cuts in his own budget confirm just how sloppy he is?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was right. I was absolutely right last night. I said it was more than $5 billion. I was also absolutely right when I said last night that we are the 13th biggest donor in the world. And if the Leader of the Opposition is unable to restrain his foreign affairs spokesman, Australia would be the biggest foreign aid donor in the world—probably No. 1—because she wants to increase it by $18 billion. That is another bill coming to Bill. I want to know where that $18 billion of extra—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta will resume her seat. The Treasurer will please refer to members by their correct titles.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was right last night; I was right today. If it were possible to do everything, the only way you would be able to do that would be to have big surpluses. Once upon a time the Australian government did have big surpluses. That was when the coalition was last in government. We inherited from Labor a budget haemorrhaging at $133 million a day. The Labor Party kept saying they wanted to keep increasing foreign aid even to countries that they themselves were giving foreign aid away from. That was a Labor Party solution: to give foreign aid to countries that they themselves were giving foreign aid from.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

Those countries were taking our foreign aid and then going and giving away foreign aid themselves, in case you do not understand that. No, you do not! You do not know where you are going, do you?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on a point of order: I refer you to page 505 of House of Representatives Practice:

Although there is no specific rule set down by standing order, the House follows the practice of requiring Members' speeches to be in English.

The comments currently being made from the Treasurer make no sense at all.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. Quite clearly the Manager of Opposition Business knows that is not a correct point of order. If there are any more of those, he will be leaving the chamber.