Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the minister that in last year's budget the government claimed that its borrowings would remain below the then debt limit of a quarter of one trillion dollars at the end of each financial year over the forward estimates. Given that UBS predicts that the government will need to borrow an additional $15 billion this year and noting that our current gross debt is $262 billion, is the government going to break yet another promise? How can the Australian people have any confidence in any figure this government delivers?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the Treasurer said in December last year, dramatically weaker revenues mean that a surplus this year is unlikely. He said that upfront to the Australian people in December. This is not because we are expecting spending to run out of control but because we are not collecting the amount of taxes that we expected to. It is very simple. We continue to be upfront about the impact of the revenue pressures. What we will not do is hire Dodgy Brothers accountants to sign-off on a set of accounts that have an $11 billion hole in them, like those opposite did in the last election campaign.

Just last week, the Treasurer indicated that the revenue shortfall will grow further, possibly by another two—

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is because the spending is out of control!

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Revenue and spending are different, George. They are different sides of the equation.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Ignore the interjection, Senator Conroy.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, the Treasurer— (Time expired)

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! If senators wish to debate the issue, the time to do so is after question time at three o'clock.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Seeing that you are upfront, Minister, I refer you to a community forum that the Prime Minister attended at the Rooty Hill RSL during the 2010 election campaign. The Prime Minister told the audience at the Rooty Hill RSL that the budget would come back to surplus in 2013. Will the Prime Minister apologise to the people of Rooty Hill now that she is going to break that promise?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government will make no apology for putting Australian jobs first, second and third. It has put Australian jobs first, second and third. Those on the opposite side may be willing to sacrifice Australian jobs. They may decide—

Opposition senators interjecting —

Have you decided whether you are running a bigger surplus or a smaller surplus? Have Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey sorted it out? What is the position over there? According to Mr Hockey, you are prepared to sacrifice Australian families and jobs in your pursuit of a surplus at all costs. But we are not prepared to put Australians into the unemployment queue and put families under financial pressure simply because Senator Barnaby Joyce—

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order going to relevance. He is an excitable young chap, isn't he? The question is: is the Prime Minister, who he is representing, going to apologise to the people of Rooty Hill for the promise that she made, and is she going to correct the record?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on the point of order. Senator Joyce may not have been listening because he was interjecting, but in fact the minister went to that issue in the second or third sentence in his answer. He is quite clearly relevant to the question. I know that the opposition do not think that jobs are relevant to an economic question, but I think most people would agree that they are.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. The minister has 19 seconds remaining if there is anything further to add to the answer.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the December monthly financial statements, our spending was actually $1 billion lower than the midyear update forecast so far this year. Payments remain on track to be around 23.8 per cent of the GDP. That is lower than half the budget outcomes delivered by the Howard government. (Time expired)