Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

It is true that the task of ensuring Australia's economic strength is ongoing, but, as the Prime Minister has said, the nation is strong enough to bend the current transformations we are seeing in the economy to our own advantage. That is why the government is acting—acting to ensure that the benefits of the resources boom are spread to all Australians and are harnessed to ensure the prosperity of the nation, something opposed by those opposite. Those opposite would rather see wealthy miners pay less tax and small businesses pay more. That is why we on this side are investing in infrastructure, doubling the roads budget and committing more in urban public transport since 2007 than was invested by all previous governments since Federation. That is why we are investing some $3 billion in skills and training, to support labour force participation today and to give more Australians the tools to participate in tomorrow's economy. These are all decisions about the future prosperity of the nation. (Time expired)