Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I may have used the wrong term, Senator Brockman; I think you're right. We are putting downward pressure on inflation, making sure that the small surplus contributes to a lower cost of living, something that those on the other side over there were singularly unable to do, despite nine opportunities to deliver.

Then what do they do? They walk in here with this joke: talking about transparency. Honestly, after the patent dishonesty of the last decade, particularly the last three years, do these guys want to talk about transparency? Now, in yesterday's budget there was a small surplus, a modest surplus, carefully delivered by this government working through the excesses of the last government's spending, working through the terminating measures and making sure that the ones that are required to continue are properly funded, not falling off the cliff that was left in the shadow budget run by Mr Morrison and his colleagues.

Why is a modest surplus important at this stage? It's important in fiscal terms. It reduces the scale of future deficits. It puts downward pressure on interest payments for Commonwealth debt. It creates a sense of the discipline in government and across the Public Service that the former government were never able to engender. There's a point of order. Sorry, you may have drifted off, Mr Deputy President.