David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The one thing you can rely on when it comes to fuel excise—and an understanding of how important excise-free fuel is to regional Australia that is actually out there doing positive things for this economy—is that the Labor Party will come along with a completely empty vessel of understanding of what is actually happening.

The proposals that we have put forward in the budget are responsible. They see Australia through difficult times when we are mopping up after one of the most profligate governments this country has ever seen. They sit over there, oblivious to the mayhem that they have delivered from portfolio to portfolio. These measures are absolutely essential to a sustainable, growing, positive economy; in stark contrast to the absolutely incompetent economic management and mismanagement that we observed for five very long and painful years from this profligate, incompetent opposition when they were in government.