Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Dr David Gruen also identified that, if current trends continue, Australia would need to have the very best productivity growth it has had in 60 years just to maintain our standard of living. Just to maintain our standard of living we need to break every productivity record as a result of what Labor left behind—and that comes from the deputy secretary of the Treasury, which I also table.

The bottom line here is that if we are to maintain our standard of living as a nation we have to fix the budget and we have to undertake the reform that Labor avoided. In fact, recklessly, they spent more money than they were ever going to collect. This is a challenge for Australia; it is not just for this government. Whoever is elected has to do the hard yards, and it starts in the May budget. That is not the end of the story; it starts then. It is going to take years to climb this mountain, but we in the coalition are absolutely determined to climb the mountain.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

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