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

I know, Mr Speaker, it is outrageous to call him by his name. Given that he has given me this opportunity and, as the Speaker said, it was a broad question, I can inform the House—I was going to do it in a statement after question time—that I have been informed by the Treasury of the final budget outcome for our first budget. That is that the budget bottom line is $3 billion better than we expected at budget time. The government is spending nearly $3 billion less than forecast, and net government debt is reduced by $11½ billion more than we expected.

I would say to you that, after Labor left a deficit of $49.5 billion, we are doing better. We are creating more jobs, we are opening up more opportunities and we are building greater prosperity.

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