Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

On Tuesday night the Rudd Labor government delivered its first budget. It is a budget this government is very, very proud of. In the lead-up to the budget we promised—and the Prime Minister personally committed to it—that we would govern as fiscal conservatives, unlike the previous Liberal government. We made that commitment to the Australian people at the election and we have delivered in this budget. We promised to rein in out-of-control government expenditure as represented by the previous Liberal government. We promised to rein in irresponsible government spending and particularly to continue the war on inflation. It is particularly important to put downward pressure on inflation and interest rates. At the same time, we have delivered a $55 billion Working Families Support Package, including $47 billion in tax cuts for low- and middle-income working families.

We have delivered a budget that meets our commitment to Australia and has also begun to invest in Australia’s long-term future through the infrastructure, health and education funds that are being established. On top of all that, we have delivered a budget surplus in 2008-09 of $21.7 billion. In the lead-up to the budget the Treasurer and the Prime Minister gave the commitment that they would increase the surplus to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product. We have done far better than that and delivered 1.8 per cent of gross domestic product. It is a surplus built on substantial savings—over $7 billion in the next financial year and total savings of $33 billion over the next four years. All we have heard from those opposite is potential ways to wreck some of those savings. That has been one of the focuses of their budget response. The important thing about these savings is that they more than offset all of the government’s new spending priorities.

So what has been the reaction in the business and financial community to the Rudd government’s first budget? Well, we have had a range of commentators endorse and support the approach that has been outlined in this particular budget. The first person I want to refer to—and these are not well-known supporters of the Labor Party, I have to say—is Heather Ridout, head of the Australian Industry Group.