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

At the end of last year there was an extreme bout of volatility in the global economy not dissimilar to what we had coped with some years before. The consequence of that was a very substantial revenue write-down. So I said to the Australian people that it was unlikely we would return to surplus in 2012-13, notwithstanding the fact that there is still a very strong fiscal consolidation going on in our balance. We are doing that because we put jobs and growth first. The proposition being put by those opposite is very simple. They are saying they would have cut government spending early this year in the face of the global volatility, thereby reducing growth and causing higher unemployment.

The proposition at the heart of all of the questions asked here today and put forward by the Leader of the Opposition is this: they would have cut $160 billion worth of revenue write-downs from the Australian budget over the last five years—and I can tell you what the consequence of that would have been. That would have been a sledgehammer to the Australian economy and would have resulted in massive unemployment. It also would have resulted in higher deficits and higher debt. They want to have a debate about deficit and debt in this country. We are the party of growth and jobs; they are the party which will take a sledgehammer to the economy. We are seeing the leading edge of that now in the $70 billion crater in their budget bottom line—

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