Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

A $2.4 billion fiscal deficit and a $3 billion cash deficit, Senator Joyce. The reason for this deficit is the fundamental problem that each year over the last five years spending has grown on average by one percentage point more than revenue. Any household knows this cannot continue indefinitely without ultimately resorting to borrowing. New South Wales has gone from being the engine room of the Australian economy to the most underperforming of all the states. The latest growth figures in New South Wales of just 1.4 per cent are the lowest of all the states. It has amongst the highest unemployment of all the states. This is a state that has received record GST—$10 billion in 2007. It is a lot better off than it would have been without the Howard government’s tax reforms.

So why the low growth rate? As Tony Abbott wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald today, it is due to the New South Wales tax rate—the highest in the country. Labor has repealed the vendor tax and imposed 24 increased tax measures, 53 rises in government charges and nine fare increases. The New South Wales opposition leader is spot-on when he asks: ‘Where has all the money gone?’ This is financial mismanagement at its worst. This is Labor’s specialty. This is the record at federal and state level. So do not come into this place sanctimoniously preaching to us about financial management. With your history at state and federal level—(Time expired)