David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the finance minister. The opposition leader has said:

If you've got growth, if you're creating national wealth, then a lot of pressure comes off the budget.

The Prime Minister said that economic growth is the best and fastest way to restore the surplus. If your proposed policy settings become law, you expect to achieve a surplus by 2020. My question is this: if the economy grew by four per cent each year from now on, even though it has not grown that fast in any year over the last decade, by what year would you expect to achieve a surplus? If it would still leave us with deficits over the next three years, isn't it irresponsible to say that growth rather than cutting programs is the best and fastest way to restore the surplus?