Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

It was never any secret that this budget was going to be very tough. It was never any secret—except, I am sorry to say, to the opposition—that we had a major inflationary problem in this country. We had members of the opposition telling us that inflation was a fairytale. We had this expectation that we should go on providing assistance and various other measures to millionaires, that we should not be cutting spending and that we should not be undertaking measures to ensure that we could improve the economy of this country.

What we have is a budget that contains disciplinary tax savings. It contains measures that demonstrate our commitment to fiscal responsibility, our commitment to modernising government spending, putting downward pressure on spending and ensuring that we put pressure on inflation. We understand that inflation is in fact real and that it does hurt working families. I will say this to the chamber: closing Commercial Ready was a very tough call, but it will allow us to get on with the job of implementing a new, streamlined set of programs, following the Review of the National Innovation System. All existing commitments under Commercial Ready—that is, $200 million over four years—will be met. All regional AusIndustry offices, which of course were established under Commercial Ready funding, will remain open. This is a budget which is about reordering priorities.