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

I thank Senator Bernardi for that question. Yesterday I was able to remind the Senate that former Treasurer Swan was a great believer when it came to surplus budgets. He was never quite able to get there, but at least he understood the importance. He understood how important it was for people sitting around the kitchen table. Even after he aspired to deliver a surplus what we got was $191 billion in deficits in his first five budgets, another $123 billion in projected deficits in his last budget and a spending growth trajectory that was going to take us to government debt of $667 billion.

The spending growth trajectory that Labor put Australia on is really the biggest concern that we are facing right now as a government because if you continue to grow spending at an unsustainable rate eventually you reach a day of reckoning. I have got another quote here for the Senate which senators might find informative. They might find that it will help them in their considerations on how to deal with budget measures. This is from a recent speech by Glenn Stevens, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia:

… the fact that the real issues with public finances are medium-term ones is not a reason to put off taking decisions to address them. On the contrary, as experience in so many other countries demonstrates, by the time these sorts of problems have gone from being out on the horizon to on our doorstep, they have usually become a lot more difficult to tackle. Early, measured actions that have effects that build up over time are a much better approach than the much tougher response that might be required if decisions were delayed.

That is what we are saying. If we do not pass the budget that was delivered two months ago, you might think the measures in the budget are tough now, but they will only become tougher in the future if we do not make these decisions today. (Time expired)