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

I thank Senator Canavan for that question. Yes, I am aware. The other day I was sitting quietly in my office working on ideas on how to continue the efforts to repair the budget mess that we have inherited from our predecessors, and who turned up on television? None other than opposition leader Mr Bill Shorten. What was Mr Bill Shorten promising to the Australian people? That not only would the Labor Party get the budget back to surplus; they would actually get the budget back to surplus sooner than the coalition.

This is Mr Shorten, who was a senior minister in the government that created the mess in the first place. This is Mr Shorten, who is opposing most of our sensible savings measures. This is Mr Shorten, who cannot even convince the Labor caucus to support the savings measures they themselves initiated and banked in the budget. This is Mr Shorten, who is telling us that big businesses generating more than $20 billion a year in revenue should continue to have tax cuts for their investment in research and development. The Labor Party under Prime Minister Gillard and Prime Minister Rudd said, 'That is not appropriate. We should not give a tax cut to businesses generating more than $20 billion in revenue a year.' Not Mr Shorten—Mr Shorten says, 'That's too hard.' We know that Senator Kim Carr, the senator for Pyongyang, rolled Mr Shorten in the Labor caucus. He rolled Mr Shorten in the Labor caucus.