Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the fact that the Prime Minister confirmed, on 16 September 2013, that the budget he inherited was not markedly different from the Pre-Election Economic Fiscal Outlook. Is it not the case that since the election the budget deficit has increased by $80 billion and net debt has blown out by $200 billion?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very happy to have a contest on economic management with this Leader of the Opposition, because Labor governments destroy our budget; coalition governments restore our budget. That is the way it always is. Members opposite would not recognise a surplus if they fell over one. Members opposite have not seen a surplus since 1989. But we have surpluses in our DNA. We have surpluses in the marrow of our bones and we are working to deliver them. Every year, as the Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook shows, we are marching closer towards the surplus that our country needs. Every year we are improving. Every year we are fixing the budgetary mess that we inherited.

What are the Leader of the Opposition's ideas for fixing the budget deficit? The last idea that the Leader of the Opposition came up with was robbing widows' bank accounts. It was the Leader of the Opposition, as the minister for financial services, who brought in the policy to confiscate inactive bank accounts. This is someone who took $550 million off the Australian people. He did not just close down 156,000 bank accounts; he pocketed the proceeds. He trousered the proceeds. Then, when he was asked about it—listen to this, Madam Speaker— he tried to explain that he was protecting people. He said:

This is about protecting people's savings to ensure it's not eroded by bank fees and changes.'

To stop the banks taking a little bit of money, he took all the money. He raided the cookie jar. He smashed the piggy bank. The one thing that we can be absolutely sure of is if you want to see a surplus in this country, never, ever change government.