George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, my question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Wong. I refer the minister to the fact that, under the Rudd-Gillard Labor govern­ment, productivity has stagnated so that, last year, for the first time in 20 years, there was no net increase in jobs; $70 billion in net Commonwealth assets has been turned into $133 billion of net Commonwealth debt; and a $20 billion budget surplus has turned into four consecutive budget deficits, the four largest in Australia's history, to a cumulative total of $167 billion worth of deficits. Given Labor's run of budget deficits and economic failure, and the fact that it cannot make a promise without breaking it, why should the Australian people have any confidence that the government's latest promise, to deliver its first ever budget surplus, will not be yet another broken promise?