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

It is very important to bring our budget back to surplus because this gives maximum flexibility to the Reserve Bank to take decisions on interest rates into the future, providing inflation is contained. If we have a look at rates at the moment, official interest rates are lower now than at any time under those opposite. Someone with a $300,000 mortgage is paying almost $3,500 a year less than they were paying when those opposite were in government. That means a lot to a lot of people in Robertson and right around this country. That is one of the benefits of bringing this budget back to surplus and building surpluses for the future.

Of course, to do this you need to be able to put in place a responsible budget. I am delighted that the Parliamentary Budget Office has now been established, because now it has been established it removes any excuse those opposite might want to put forward about how their policies should not be costed under the Charter of Budget Honesty. So we will want to see some honesty from them when it comes to their election costings so they do not run away from public scrutiny when it comes to their budget bottom line, because they have currently got a $70-billion crater in their budget bottom line. The Parliamentary Budget Office is one way for them to try to demonstrate what they going to do about it.

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