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

Any suggestion to keep the significantly elevated levels of spending going on forever and ever would harm our economy and harm our budget. It would harm our capacity to fund the essential services of government on a sustainable basis. That is because it would require higher taxes over time, which would harm growth. I know that the socialists on the other side find that very hard to understand.

Harming growth would harm government revenue over time. That of course has always been the Labor way: higher spending funded by higher growth-destroying taxes. Our government put our country on a sustainable and responsible path and will give the nation the best possible opportunity to thrive on the other side of this crisis. The Australian people know this is a government that delivers pro-growth, lower-tax, pro-business and pro-opportunity policies, whereas those on the other side, given half a chance, would go back to impose higher taxes, which lead to fewer jobs—