Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Given the turbulence on global financial markets in recent weeks, you would have thought that any responsible economic manager would vote for a strong surplus, but not the Liberal Party led by the new opposition leader. In contrast to the Liberals, the government would like to acknowledge the cooperation of the Greens and Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding on this important budget measure. The Greens, Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon have more economic responsibility in their little fingers than those opposite have in their entire collective being. The Liberals have shown only that they will splash the cash at any opportunity.