Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

My final response to the member for North Sydney is that when we came to office we confronted a budget where there had been no serious savings measures by the previous government since the 2003 budget. Of course, since we have come to office that pattern of fiscal profligacy has been continued by the opposition. So we have now got to a point where it is seven years since the Liberal Party put forward a serious savings measure. We do not really hold our breath for the prospect that we will get one. Eventually we might get a savings proposal from them, but it has been seven years since the last one.

See this speech in context