Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's time to put to bed forever the coalition's most successful propaganda. The coalition, whose economic and legislative mess we are still cleaning up, are continually trying to tell Australians that they are somehow the better economic managers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Treasury figures show that the Abbott government added $48 billion to government debt, the Turnbull government added $31 billion to debt and the Morrison government added $50 billion to debt. Meanwhile, the Albanese government has paid down debt, having back-to-back surpluses. What about taxation? Do Labor governments tax more, as Senator Hume was excitedly claiming today? No. Statistics show that the two highest governments for tax over the last 30 years were the Howard and Turnbull governments. The three lowest were Labor governments. What about international recognition? Did a Liberal Treasurer ever get a 'world's greatest Treasurer' award from Euromoney magazine? No. But Paul Keating did, followed by Wayne Swan in 2011 in recognition of Labor's excellent handling of the economy during the global financial crisis.

Today, we will see a budget, delivered by the Treasurer, where all Australians will share in $107 billion worth of tax cuts, where we will have turned a $78 billion deficit into a $22 billion surplus and where we will have halved inflation since 2022. Australians can trust Labor with the economy. The facts speak for themselves.