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

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. He recognises, as I recognise, that the biggest problem that we have in trying to fix the budget is the person and the people who were responsible for the mess: the Australian Labor Party. I am glad to say to the Australian people, to the Prime Minister and to everyone that, as a result of our budget, we can reduce the debt legacy left by Labor by nearly $300 billion. But the impediment remains: the Australian Labor Party, the Leader of the Opposition—a massive impediment. The first challenge they have is to recognise that there is a problem. Two weeks ago and the weeks before that, they were saying to the Australian people: 'There's no train wreck here; there's no problem. It's all okay. Everything would have been fine if we had been in government. It would have surged back to surplus.' You probably would have had the member for Lilley stand up here again and promise four years of surpluses, if Labor had been re-elected. Of course, we knew that was never going to happen. The only problem was that the Labor Party did not know.

So now we have to deal with the problem and we are getting on with dealing with the problem. We have put in place savings measures that actually, over time, will not only reduce the legacy of debt and the legacy of higher interest payments but also give us a fair chance to give back to the Australian people the taxes that they pay so that we can continue to strengthen the economy and create more jobs. But the problem is that, like a sun that is gradually coming up on the horizon, Labor is starting to work out that there is a problem. In his budget-in-reply speech, the Leader of the Opposition said, 'There is a budget task'—a task! And the shadow Treasurer at the National Press Club said, 'Yes, there needs to be budget repair.'

But the fact is that they are standing in the way by opposing $40 billion of savings—and $5 billion are savings they took to the last election as their promises. So Labor are not only trying to prevent us from keeping our promises; Labor are trying to prevent us from keeping their promises. The bottom line is that it adds to the tally. Labor are opposing their savings, they are opposing our savings and they are opposing the savings that are going to fix the budget.

Sooner or later, they need to accept responsibility. After they accept responsibility, they need to provide an alternative. A credible Leader of the Opposition, with any personal integrity, would offer an alternative.

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