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

Thank you very much. It is very important that I say that again. Last night the government delivered a budget which was honest, which was fair; which delivered on the commitments we took to the last election; which is building a stronger, more prosperous, more resilient economy where everyone can get ahead; and which starts to repair the budget mess that we inherited from our predecessors. In last night's budget we put a stop to Labor's unsustainable spending growth trajectory because that is the right thing to do in the national interest. The Labor Party never really fessed up to this before the election, but guess what. When you look at the fine print, when you look at the report that came out by the Commission of Audit—

Opposition senators interjecting—

do you know where the spending growth trajectory was going under Labor? It was going to 26.5 per cent as a share of GDP.