Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dobell for his question. The government does have a comprehensive fiscal strategy which provides fiscal stimulus in the short term, as I was saying before, to provide absolutely essential support to the economy during the global recession. There is also a plan to bring the budget back into surplus as the economy recovers. This plan has been endorsed by the International Monetary Fund. It says few other advanced economies have adopted such a clear commitment.

The question in this House is what the fiscal plan of those opposite is compared to that of the government. The member for North Sydney is this morning reported to have claimed that a reasonable emergency or maximum level of spending is 24 per cent of GDP. This would come as a shock to many in the House, not least of them the member for Higgins, because 10 of his 12 budgets exceeded that amount. Ten of his 12 budgets exceeded the target put by Sloppy Joe over there in the newspaper this morning.

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