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

Well, that was a killer blow, wasn't it! Mr President, perhaps I should explain some budget facts to those opposite. This government has offset all new spending since mid-2009. The fact is that we have been dealing with, as all other advanced economies have, a hit to our revenue base, a hit to our revenue, which is reflected with some $160 billion in revenue write-down over a number of budgets. So we have not only been offsetting new savings; we have also been offsetting a lower tax take. If Senator Cormann wants to look at the facts: if we were taxing as much as Peter Costello, the surplus in 2012-13 would be $24 billion.

Senator Cormann interjecting—

That is the reality, Senator Cormann, and no amount of your rhetoric is going to alter the facts of the government— (Time expired)