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

My answer yesterday was correct, and I stand by that answer. I would say that the Australian people realise that they have a government that's making responsible and difficult decisions after we inherited a budget mess from those opposite—that is what the Australian people think. They want a government that shows up, that deals with the challenges, that explains the decisions we take and why we take them. We're taking them because we've got a $50 billion structural budget problem in this country. We have $1 trillion in debt that was the debt that was doubled before the pandemic hit. We've got increasing pressures on our budget, including in national security and defence, in health and in hospitals and in aged care. In all of those areas we have increasing pressures. Unlike you, we don't think the budget is this magic pudding that you can use for yourselves without explaining it. (Time expired)