Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

so I'll continue. The capital funds that had been earmarked for nation-building funds were squandered by Labor, and they didn't add anything to those funds, because they never delivered a surplus. So the problem is that, no matter what Labor say in terms of delivering a surplus over the budget cycle, their heart's not really in it, so it never happens, and we all pay the price, especially the upcoming generations of young Australians. Unfortunately there is a day of reckoning for reckless spending, and the intergenerational unfairness of Labor's reckless spending sprees needs to be given more, not less, focus as we head towards the next election. The clear lesson is that Labor can't be trusted with managing either the budget or the capital funds in the Future Fund.

I'll have more to say on future occasions about the progress that we as a nation make in meeting the long-term budgetary challenges set out in the intergenerational reports, but tonight I pause to pay tribute again to Australia's greatest-ever Treasurer, Peter Costello, for conceiving and delivering the intergenerational reports and the long-term vision underlying them.

See this speech in context