Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. As the member for Lalor says, I bet they have. They wrote the thing, and they handed it to poor old Slo-Mo over there, and he announced it at that dispatch box last night—big business tax cuts, big tax cuts to the wealthiest Australians and these sorts of things, all written and authorised by the big end of town.

The third category of measures are those humiliating backflips. After campaigning against Labor policies for months, saying they would tear down the economy and they would ruin people's retirement aspirations, all of a sudden they have been adopted. To hear the Treasurer stand up here in question time and talk about a consistency of view after reinstating the low-income super contribution that they abolished, it is just entirely laughable.

The last point I want to make is about the fiscal situation. The Treasurer of Australia has done to the Australian budget what the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia is doing to the carp in the Murray. We know this because in the Treasurer's own budget we have net debt blown out by $109 billion, debt continuing to rise and tax continuing to rise as a share of GDP. Debt spiked at 12.8 per cent under us; it is now 18.9 per cent under them. There are huge debt and deficit blowouts. Tomorrow night we will see the contrast. Some of the speakers over there have pointed out that there is a sharp difference, and there is. We will put people first in our budget response tomorrow night, in the election campaign and in the government that we form after the election. Those opposite will continue to pursue policies which are written and authorised by the big end of town.

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