Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

It's great to see that Senator Chisholm goes through all these outstanding Liberal members and senators. We've got a few more! Senator Stoker is, of course, absolutely right: we should absolutely minimise the burden on future generations. The absolute commitment that Senator Stoker has from the government and every Australian has from the government is that debt will always be lower than it would have been under the Labor Party. Debt will always be lower under the Liberal and National parties than it would have been under the Labor Party. The Labor Party, of course, left behind a rapidly deteriorating budget position. They left behind ludicrous revenue assumptions like $120 a tonne for iron ore, which meant that the revenue they assumed they would collect was way above anything that was ever going to be realistic. And then, of course, they locked in spending growth that was for the forwards—