Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition) Share this | Hansard source

You would think so. We would like to think that the fact that it is adopting a conservative budget bias would be a good thing. It would be a nice change.

But it is important to note that the assumptions upon which Labor's numbers are based are getting more and more rubbery. Labor might make allegations that we contest about $10 billion or $11 billion of estimates that we challenge them on, but their budget has been out by more than that every single year. If Labor's budget was only out by $10 billion or $11 billion, the Australian people would be relieved because they know that, thanks to you, their children and their children's children have $200-plus billion to pay back that they did not have four years ago. You can have all the slogans you want, you can have all the bumper stickers you want, but every Australian knows you cannot trust Labor with money. We know that, when Labor say there is a balance over the budget cycle, that means Labor run the deficits, the coalition run the surpluses, and only under us will Australia once again be in a sustainable fiscal position.