Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Absolutely. They have recycled the questions, so we will be forced to talk about the difficult global economic times that we are in. We need to provide sufficient downward pressure on interest rates and on inflation, because Australian families deserve a government who are committed to tackling the highest level of inflation in 16 years, which we inherited. We need a government that will face up to the tough policy decisions on which those opposite, who were in government previously, completely and utterly ran up the white flag. You only need to look at the IMF report that was released to the Financial Review to see the absolute irresponsibility of those opposite. The Rudd government understands the need for responsible budgeting.