Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I suspect there are not. But you know something: your party put 50,000 of them out of work, and thousands of them live in Labor Party electorates. It is the Labor Party that is denying to people on average earnings the ability to save and invest and get ahead. Of course, in terms of my affluent neighbours, many of whom—most of whom, perhaps—have substantial investment income, they will not be interrupted by the Labor Party's plans. They will be fine. The people that the Labor Party professes to care about have been abandoned—abandoned in their policies, abandoned in their government and abandoned when many of them were leading the trade unions who failed so dismally to represent those people.

Let me say this: the budget we are presenting tonight, the budget the Treasurer is going to bring down tonight, is one that will drive jobs and growth in our 21st century economy. It will ensure that we have a tax system that is sustainable, is fit for purpose, meets our needs in the 21st century and is fair. Everything we commit to—whether it is in health, whether it is in schools, whether it is in roads, rail or water—will be fully funded. We will do that without raising taxes as a percentage of GDP. We will do that as we bring the budget back into balance. We will do that as we deliver the growth, the jobs, the responsibility and the prudence that Australia's future demands and the Australian people expect.

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