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

Again, I think the Treasurer and I have been extremely honest about the pressures that are intensifying on the budget in those five key areas: NDIS, defence, health, aged care and paying the interest on the trillion dollars of Liberal debt that we inherited when we came to government. I might say, this budget shows that we are paying $80 billion less in interest costs on that debt because of the work we've put in to lowering the requirements for debt to fund the budget.

The second point I'd make is the fact that, over the past two budgets, continued in this, we are cleaning up the mess of a former government that never budgeted in an honest and complete picture, so we have terminating measures. What about myGov? Do you think myGov is a program that only operates for one or two years? That's how long it was budgeted for; we are now providing that funding. Two-thirds of the net spend in this budget is unavoidable spending, most of which we inherited from those opposite.