Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister the Finance and Deregulation and Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Wong. I refer the Minister to the fact that the Reserve Bank of Australia data has the government currently borrowing $27.8 billion in the first six months of this financial year, and we are now in excess of $262 billion in gross debt. Given that this is a larger amount than what the government borrowed in the first six months of the 2009-10 financial year, why is the government borrowing more money now than during the height of the global financial crisis?