George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Di Natale, let me correct you: there has not been a reduction to Commonwealth spending on education nor has there been a reduction in Commonwealth spending on health. The fact is, Senator Di Natale, as you acknowledged in your original question, when the government were elected 2½ years ago we faced an unprecedented budget position as a result of the ruin left to us by the previous Labor government and in particular by the previous Labor finance minister, now the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Wong. So we had to find economies, but we also had to deal with areas of significant neglect left behind by the previous government. One of the areas of significant neglect was defence. The proportion of GDP spent by Australia on defence had fallen as a result of that neglect to the lowest proportion of GDP since 1938, and we make no apologies for addressing that neglect. (Time expired)