Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Again I am perplexed as to why the senator seems to have missed the key component of the budget. The budget sees this country repaying its debt faster than any of the other major industrialised economies. We will be debt free before all our competing major industrialised countries. We already have lower unemployment rates and we have less debt as a proportion of our economy, but this budget delivers the return to surplus three years early. It is repaying the debt that was accumulated as we protected Australian jobs. We stimulated the economy to protect Australian jobs. What people ought to focus on is the figure for unemployment projection—down to 4¾ per cent. That is a great result for Australians. (Time expired)