John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Bilyk said this Gillard Labor government is committed to fiscal restraint and fiscal responsibility, but we are yet to see a budget in the black. This matter of public importance today about the harm this government is causing to our families and to their cost of living is simply a free kick in front of goal for us on the opposition benches.

It is important to look at the history of the Labor Party. Senator Cormann pointed out to me last night what happened in the 13 years of the Hawke-Keating government. How many budget surpluses were there? Just three out of 13. It was borrow, borrow, borrow—and run up the debt. We know the debt. It was $96 billion inherited by the Howard coalition government. They had some 10 or 11 years to pay it off. We can go back to the late eighties and the early nineties and look at the way the Labor Party managed the states. Victoria had a $60 billion debt and down the tube it went. South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania were similar.