Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

President, I've been accused of misleading the Senate. I can assure you I am not misleading the Senate. If I could project my voice over those shouting at me I could go through and explain. We have booked in revenues—I'm not talking about payments—related to higher than expected commodity prices. However, many of the factors driving that improved end result will not be replicated over the medium term. You don't have to dig too deep into the data to get a good sense of the complex and confronting set of challenges we face in the nearer term. We know that the budget is facing sustained pressure into the future, with those opposite leaving Australia with a budget in structural deficit. Despite what they might say, an improved deficit alone is not proof of a strong and thriving economy or budget. We have a budget weighed down by a mountain of debt that's becoming more expensive to service. In this financial year, $17.9 billion was spent servicing a trillion dollars of Liberal debt. That's more expensive than the PBS. It's more expensive than child care. More than we spend on a range of government programs is just going into servicing the debt, and that was as of March. That was before the interest rates increased, which, of course, will add a significant cost to the budget. That is what we are dealing with— (Time expired)

Honourable senators interjecting—