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

This is really quite a ridiculous set of propositions from the opposition. Between the midyear review and the budget, we have seen a $60 billion write-down in revenue. It is the second largest hit to revenue in a year since the Great Depression—the second largest hit. Those are the economic facts that a responsible government has to deal with. If the strategy to return the budget to surplus that has been put by the Leader of the Opposition is simply, 'Stop the boats,' he is a long way short, because the reality is that the nation and the government have been facing this challenge, which is far less tax being paid to government than Peter Costello received. In fact, if the government were receiving as much tax as Peter Costello received, we would have $24 billion more in extra revenue next year. (Time expired)