Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Now that the minister has started talking about tight fiscal discipline and limiting spending growth, does she accept that the government's commitment to keep spending growth below two per cent in real terms is a very easy target to achieve given that government spending is coming off a highly inflated base with spending growth of more than 17 per cent over the last two years in real terms, the highest since Whitlam?