Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with pleasure that I rise to take part in this discussion of matters of public interest today, because, if there is one thing that is of interest to the people of Australia, it is the Labor Party's continued denial of economic reality. This government was elected overwhelmingly by making it clear to the people of Australia that we had three key priorities. The first was that we would stop the boats, and the success of Operation Sovereign Borders in doing that is obvious. Yes, the work goes on, but there has not been a single successful people-smuggling venture to Australia since last December. Those opposite said it could not be done, yet it is being done. The second key priority was to scrap the carbon tax and the mining tax, which we already would have done if only those opposite had respected the clear mandate the people of Australia gave this government last year. I am pleased that, with the arrival of new senators in this place, we now have the opportunity in coming days to deliver on our commitment to put an end to these unnecessary taxes. The third and most fundamental promise was to get the nation's books back in the black and build a stronger economy.

When this government talks about getting the budget back to surplus, we actually mean it. In the six years those opposite were in office, they were very good at talking about the need to make tough decisions. They were even better about talking about getting the budget back into surplus. What they were not terribly good at was delivering on their talk. Labor did not make tough decisions, and, for all their talk and all their promises, they did not deliver a single surplus budget during their most recent period in office. Talk is cheap. It was about the only aspect of the previous government that was cheap, because everything else they did was massively, and in many cases unnecessarily, expensive and financed on massive debts—debts which this government is now determined to repay so that future generations of Australia do not have to. Indeed, as a result of the decisions taken in this budget, the interest payments on government debt are projected to be $16 billion lower in a decade. That is freeing up money to be spent on crucial health and education services, on support for families and for seniors and to build vital infrastructure.

I think it is worth spending a couple of moments considering how we got to the fiscal position Australia finds itself in today. When the previous Howard coalition government left office in 2007, Australia had no net government debt. That meant that we were not shelling out billions of dollars every year for interest payments. Coupled with that was the exceptionally strong budget position Labor inherited. In the 2007-08 budget, which was Peter Costello's final budget, the end result was a surplus of $19.8 billion. Compare that with what Labor produced in their final budget—a $47 billion deficit. That is Labor's record, and no amount of distraction or hiding can hide that simple and important fact. They came to office with an exceedingly strong fiscal position and proceeded to squander it through poor decisions, runaway spending and ballooning debt. But, from reading Labor's budget speeches during their time in office, you would never know it. Labor swore to us that, like the Loch Ness monster or the bunyip, the surplus existed. They just could not actually show us where it was. So in 2008-09, when Wayne Swan told us in his first budget that he would deliver a surplus built on disciplined spending, the result was a $27 billion deficit. The next year, we were told the budget would put us on a path to surplus by 2015-16. The result that year was a $54.5 billion deficit. For 2010-11—the final budget under Kevin Rudd—Mr Swan said his program would see the budget return to surplus in three years time. That year the deficit was $47.5 billion.