John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor Senator Doug Cameron from New South Wales was spot on the money in media reports today when he said the people of western Sydney do not trust the government. That is being very honest, because I think the people of Australia do not trust this government. They do not trust the government to keep its word on carbon taxes. They do not trust the government to manage money. I noticed an earlier interjection from Senator Thistlethwaite about the extra billion dollars in the New South Wales budget. We know what sort of mess New South Wales inherited from then Treasurer Mr Roozendaal, who does not even know how to register a car. He did not know whether to put the car in his wife's name or his name, yet he was in charge of the RTA—how ironic.

In the budget of May 2009, this government forecast a deficit of $12 billion for the financial year that finished on 30 June this year, the 2010-11 year.

But in the May budget of 2010 that deficit blew out to $22 billion. Then in the midyear economic and fiscal outlook, MYEFO, in around November 2010 that blew out to over $30 billion. In September just past we got the actual facts of the 2011-12 budget: $43.7 billion debt. That is how much this government borrowed in 12 months. But two years earlier they forecast borrowing just $12 billion. To end up borrowing $43.7 billion when your forecast is $12 billion two years earlier is not even a good guess. That is such bad fiscal management it is not even a good guess.

We hear so much about the global financial crisis. This is the most laughable thing of all about this government. Here was a government in 2009, 2010 and 2011 stimulating the economy, borrowing billions and billions, up to a gross debt now of just on $250 billion.