Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Back for his concern about the budgetary position that the Australian people face. The Australian people realise that they have inherited from Labor a debt and deficit disaster that, if left unaddressed, threatens the future prosperity of future generations of Australians and—as I just said before—would be both economically irresponsible and unconscionable intergenerational theft.

Let us just consider Labor's legacy: $667 billion worth of projected debt; $123 billion worth of deficits; the borrowing of $1,000 million in interest payments each and every month; and 200,000 more of our fellow Australians without a job. We all know that, unless remedial action is taken, government spending will blow out to nearly $700 billion within the decade, thanks to Labor's legacy. By 2024, a $24,500 millstone of Labor debt would be chained around every Australian's neck. That is every man, woman and child. This would mean for the average Australian household an additional debt burden of $63,700, courtesy of Senator Conroy and the Labor Party.

This is not a problem of the government's making, yet we are willing to address it. We would simply invite those opposite to help make a contribution in cleaning up the mess that they created—that they deliberately created in their bid to gain re-election in 2013. The responsibility now lies with this Senate to ensure that we get our fiscal parameters back into shape for the future wellbeing of all Australians.