Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Siewert for her question. The first thing I would say is that when we came into government we inherited from the Labor/Greens administration that preceded us a debt and deficit disaster that needed fixing. When we went to the last election we said we would fix the budget mess left behind by the Labor/Greens administration, and we are doing exactly that. Labor and the Greens left behind $191 billion of cumulative deficits after their first five budgets, and they left behind another $123 billion in projected deficits in their last budget. They were taking us to a government debt of $667 billion within the decade and rising beyond that. They left a situation where we have to pay $1 billion a month just in interest to service the debt that Labor and the Greens accumulated over six years in government.

What we have done is transparently there for all to see in the budget. We have ensured that our spending growth trajectory is more sustainable, more affordable and more realistic—