Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

We know that Mr Abbott has scrolled you off the page of the ERC process, Mathias, so you keep scrolling merrily. Importantly, this is a budget that provides a surplus for families and not from families; it provides the Reserve Bank with the maximum flexibility to reduce interest rates further if they support it. Importantly for families and small businesses across Australia, interest rates are now lower than at any time under the previous government. Our economic fundamentals are strong. Unemployment is at 4.9 per cent today. Inflation remains within the RBA's target and the economy is forecast to grow at around three per cent per annum. In contrast, the test for Mr Abbott, and the opposition, tonight in his reply is not to squib it. Those opposite should show us their cuts. They should come clean with the Australian people.