Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Tomorrow, for the first time in Australia's history, gross debt will crash through half a trillion dollars, so how can the Prime Minister possibly justify giving big business a $65 billion tax cut?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the shadow Treasurer is concerned about the level of debt in this country, he should apologise. He should apologise with all the spivs on that side of the chamber who, over so many years, racked up the debt in this country and set fire to the nation's finances. This government inherited from those opposite gross debt that was increasing at an average rate of 33.9 per cent per year. Do you know what the debt would be today in the budget for 2017-18 if we had carried on Labor's reckless spending approach and its approach to debt? It would not be $500 billion; it would be $1 trillion—$1 trillion, if we had not taken the decision to take that average rate of growth in debt that occurred under the Labor Party and reduce it down to now less than 10 per cent a year.

The other difference between those on that side of the House, the Labor Party, and this side of the House is: what did they raise that debt for? How did they rack up all that expenditure? It was not just that they could not control their expenditure, and their expenditure grew at twice the rate that has occurred under this government. What did they spend it on? On overpriced school halls; on setting fire to people's roofs with their pink batts program. They sent it out in cheques to dead people and pets—their cash splash. On top of that, there was around $12 billion in blowouts on border protection for which the shadow Treasurer was more responsible than was any other minister in the previous government—but plenty of them had a good go at it.

What is this side of the House investing in over the next 10 years? From 2018-19, this will be the first time that we are issuing Commonwealth government securities not to pay for everyday expenses. They borrowed to pay the grocery bill, not to build a house or buy a house. We invest, and we are raising the gross debt to build airports, to build railways, to build infrastructure, to build submarines—the ones they would not build—to build the things that are going to grow our economy. The other thing we are doing, when it comes to the Commonwealth government security issuance, is not raiding the Future Fund.

So I ask those opposite: will they commit not to raid the Future Fund if they are ever elected to this side of the House? Will they say to this House, 'No, we will not see gross debt rise, because we will not build the Western Sydney Airport'—or not build the Inland Rail project, not do any of this? (Time expired)