David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government's budget handed down this week is a prime example of Labor's ceaseless and ongoing commitment to debt and deficit budgeting. I would contend that the figures speak for themselves. A soaring budget deficit of $49.4 billion this financial year and an expected deficit for 2011-12 that has blown out by a whopping $16 billion—from $9.6 billion to $22.6 billion.

This government are addicted to spending and they are asking Australian families to fund it. This budget fails to ease the rising costs of living for families, who face higher prices every day. In fact, under this Labor government, electricity prices have risen by 51 per cent since 2007, grocery prices are up by 14 per cent, education and health costs are up by about 20 per cent, the price of petrol has soared and there have been seven interest rate rises in a row under this government, placing pressure on Australian families struggling with their mortgages—those very families that the Australian Labor Party went to the election in 2007 saying that they were going to help. The Labor Party said that they were going to address the cost-of-living pressures that those families were facing under that 'evil Howard government'. They said that they were going to fix it, but just look at those figures. Those figures speak for themselves.