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

I do not think that it is very good for anybody to be talking in hypotheticals about what might occur in the global economy and in the domestic economy—and I do not put Senator Sinodinos necessarily into this category; he is certainly not at the extreme end. I note that the opposition are very happy to talk down the Australian economy even though that is not a good thing for jobs and for confidence. The question for the government is always: how do you ensure and build the resilience of the economy in circumstances which are volatile? We took decisions during the global financial crisis which were absolutely motivated by and centred upon the objective of ensuring that we supported jobs and growth. I note that the opposition opposed that stimulus and the decision that the government made in December, and the decisions that the government will make in this upcoming budget will be guided by the same Labor values and the imperatives of ensuring jobs and growth.