Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

No, you do not get a second chance at that one. A lot of marriages would fail if you had two chances to speak! Not only has Labor increased all those taxes but the Labor states are not balancing their budgets as a whole. They are budgeting for deficits of 0.3 per cent of GDP and—get a load of this—as a whole, building up debt over the next three years by $58 billion. Over the next forward estimates, the Commonwealth will save $50 billion and the states will borrow $58 billion. This is the difference between Liberal federal government and state Labor government. With state Labor government, you get increased taxes, budget deficits and a build-up of debt. With the coalition federal government, you get tax cuts, balanced budgets and a reduction of debt. If you want the Labor way to spread from the states to the Commonwealth, you have a great opportunity. You have Mr Rudd and his focus group driven advisers and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition or you could have real economic management in the coalition government.

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