Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr President. We know now that the figures that Labor released in the pre-election economic statement just before the election were not an accurate representation of the facts. Why do we know that? That is because Senator Wong included a whole range of savings measures, a whole range of Labor cuts, which Labor in opposition are now walking away from. So here we are and Labor present a picture in the pre-election economic statement saying, 'Our deficit now is $30.1 billion this financial year,' after promising a surplus before that. But we have got $5 billion worth of Labor cuts which are integrated into those budget figures Labor released before the election and that they are now walking away from. So $2.3 billion in higher education cuts from the Labor government, $1.1 billion of cuts to research and development from the Labor government, a $1.5 billion saving from not going ahead with the carbon tax— (Time expired)