Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

No-one regrets more than I do that we cannot afford to pay people more at this time. No-one regrets that more than I do. I have been to Defence base after Defence base over the last 14 months. I have visited our defence forces in all sorts of different contexts. I deeply respect—nay, I revere—our defence forces. No-one is more deserving of the best possible deal than our defence forces.

But it comes a little ill of the Leader of the Opposition, who helped to put us into the parlous fiscal position that we are in, to complain about the necessary consequences of the situation that he created. This is someone who not only knifed two prime ministers but played a large part in the economic policies of the former government which gave us debt and deficits stretching out as far as the eye can see.

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