Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the minute and a half that's left in senators' statements I'm prompted the raise an issue which Senator Dodson did about our obligation to future generations. I think there's no more poignant or pertinent time to discuss this than when the budget comes out and you've got hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of debts that have been accrued by this parliament and the previous two or three parliaments that future generations are going to have to pay back. I think this is a moral obligation that is incumbent upon all of us. The government, to its credit, has mapped out a path of fiscal repair, although there is some $32 billion or $33 billion worth of additional deficit spending in the next couple of years. But we need to work together to reduce that, to stop the wasteful expenditure, to stimulate our economy as much as we possibly can, because anything else is an abrogation of our duty. Those of us who are parents in this place—and I think there are many of us—recognise that our children are going to inherit not only the great legacy that Senator Dodson has discussed from his ancestral heritage but also that of those who have travelled before us, and they bequeathed to us a country which is unrivalled in its potential for prosperity. It has been destroyed by decisions in this place. We need to rectify it. We need to get behind budget repair as a matter of priority and urgency.