Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to make some comments in response to the delivery of the budget by the Treasurer last night, but before I do I would like to acknowledge in the chamber today my very good friend and Senator elect Bridget McKenzie from Victoria. The budget delivery last night by the Treasurer indicated to us that the government has a complete lack of strategy and a complete lack of substance when it comes to the future sustainability of this nation. The other things it highlighted were the opportunities that have been missed because of this government's waste and mismanagement.

But, firstly, some of the significant announcements last night in the budget were, of course, the announcements around the deficit: $49.4 billion this year, the second-largest since World War II and $8.6 billion worse than was forecast in last year's budget. We have a forecast for the budget deficit in 2011-12 blown out by $9.6 billion to $22.6 billion. We have a net government debt increasing to a record $107 billion in 2011-12. Remember: when we came to government back in 1996, there was $96 billion worth of debt, and that took us 10 years to pay off. The government has managed to rack that up in just a few short years.