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

Well, Senator Di Natale is entirely wrong. The costing for our personal income tax package is $13.4 billion over the forward estimates. The costing has been put forward by the government consistent with the requirements of the Charter of Budget Honesty.

Let me tell you something else that Senator Di Natale is wrong about. Our budget is forecast to return to surplus by 2019-20 and it's projected to remain in surplus all the way through the medium term to 2028-29. In fact, we are projected to return to a surplus in excess of one per cent of the share of GDP by 2026-27. By definition, that means that all of the expenditure on the important essential services that Australians expect in health, in education—you name it—is guaranteed.

That is one of our core objectives: to ensure that the funding for the essential services that Australians rely on is guaranteed within our budget while the government lives within its means.