Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's with great anticipation that I am looking forward to the Treasurer delivering a balanced budget tonight—a surplus budget. I must say that we are already beginning to see the benefits of a well-managed economy in my electorate. Last week, we had the announcement of $150 million for major roadworks in the Grey electorate—$50 million on the Barrier Highway; $75 million on the Eyre Highway; and $25 million on Eyre Peninsula, which will soon have to cope with the closure of the railway there. It is a great outcome. Last week, we announced 16 new mobile phone towers across the electorate, with another two rounds of funding to come. The week before, I announced the establishment of a new headspace in Port Lincoln.

That is what you can do when you are in charge of the money and when you know that you can pay the bills. That is what this Treasurer and our finance minister have done. They are returning Australia to surplus and putting us back in that strong position where we can get on with the jobs in our electorate and actually deliver the things that people want—telecommunications, road networks and mental health facilities. It is a great outcome, and I am so looking forward to tonight.

It seems like it has been a long time since I got here in 2007. In 2007, we had a wonderful surplus budget—a surplus budget which was plunged into a $48 billion deficit within two years. We will turn that all around tonight. (Time expired)