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

Net debt returning to zero by 2021 and peak net debt are very clear in the budget update. I deliberately referenced that date for this reason. If a number of the savings measures that were opposed by the opposition had not been taken, net debt would still be some $250 billion by 2020-21. That is the reality. That includes, for example, the private health insurance rebate and various other measures that the opposition have opposed, so if they want to talk about net debt they need to be aware their policy settings would actually lead to net debt not returning to zero and continuing to be high out to the end of the decade.