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

This government has ensured that its assumptions about the carbon price and its policies in relation to the Clean Energy Future package are reflected fully in the budget. That is more than can be said for anything the opposition has put forward. The entire carbon price package is included in the midyear review, the MYEFO bottom line, and that also shows the budget returning to surplus in 2012-13. We have been very upfront with Australians as to the cost of the Clean Energy Future package, far more upfront than those opposite, who continue to obfuscate and mislead people about the true cost of the policy that they are now advocating, contrary to the one they previously had.

The senator would know—I think he was at estimates for this aspect—that we have said consistently that in this year's budget we will update the figures in the usual way across government for the 2015-16 year, and that will obviously include the carbon price in that year. I am certainly not going to get into any speculation about how those updates might occur. I am sure the senator will have the opportunity to consider the government's figures post the announcement or the bringing down of the budget, which I would say again will be a surplus budget, unlike the $70 billion black hole that his leader is leading him to. That is the reality. We have offset new spending and those opposite do not— (Time expired)