Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the question just put by the members opposite previously, I directly addressed the issues that were being put before the House regarding the role that the Prime Minister plays in finalising an Expenditure Review Committee process, and that is exactly the role that I played. That is not an unusual process. It is a process followed by previous prime ministers—previous Labor prime ministers and previous Liberal prime ministers. That is the way that you finalise a budget round when you go through an Expenditure Review Committee process.

Now, those opposite might be unfamiliar with that process. I'm not unfamiliar with it; I'm very familiar with the process of the economic management of this country because it has been under this government, when we went into this pandemic, that we had been in a position where we were able to balance the budget so that we could deliver the single greatest economic response the country has ever required. And Australia was—

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