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

The answer, again, is yes. But here is the important point, which Labor clearly do not understand. It is lower than it would have been if we had kept the policy settings that Labor put in place. When we came into government, the advice we got was that on Labor's policy settings we would reach an expenditure as a share of GDP of 26.5 per cent within the decade. Of course the Intergenerational report showed that under Labor's policy settings expenditure as a share of GDP was heading for in excess of 30 per cent. We are working in an orderly and methodical fashion to get spending growth under control over the budget forward estimates. The projections are that expenditure as a share of GDP will come down to about 25.3 per cent. That is still not good enough. There is more work to be done. If Labor were really so concerned they would join us in our efforts. A good start would be not to make ongoing, unfunded spending promises, which Labor are still doing. (Time expired)