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

The reason Mr Costello introduced the Charter of Budget Honesty was to ensure the public knew what they were voting for. It was to ensure the public knew what the policies of the government of the day would be; but to date the only party in this parliament that has promised to adhere to Peter Costello's Charter of Budget Honesty is the Labor Party, because we know those opposite do not want people to know what is in the firing line for the $70 billion worth of cuts to frontline services. But to get some understanding of it you have to look no further than the coalition state governments—to the governments of Mr Newman and to the governments in Victoria and New South Wales—and you have to look no further than out of the mouth of Senator Joyce, the great coalition economic expert here. When he was asked today if Ms Gillard was correct when she said Mr Newman's budget was an Abbott government curtain raiser, Senator Joyce told ABC radio, 'Well, she's absolutely—' (Time expired)