Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Notwithstanding some of the rhetorical flourishes in that question, the fact of the matter is that this side of the House is the only side of the House—sometimes with support from the crossbenches, to be fair, some of the time. We have implemented a consistent policy of support of cost-of-living measures. And, when it comes to fiscal policy, of course, we are happy to compare our fiscal policy of two budget surpluses and lower deficits, of savings—$188 billion of reduction in debt as a result of government actions and $60 billion less in interest payments on that debt as a result of government actions—with the previous regime of nine years, which promised a budget surplus in the first year and every year thereafter and didn't deliver a single one.

One of the things that characterises this government is that we go and we underpromise and overdeliver. We didn't go to an election and promise that we would produce budget surpluses, and yet we delivered not one but two.

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