Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

who rolled over every time the Prime Minister demanded more spending and demanded more taxing. Let us be clear: at a time of global economic uncertainty we need a strong budget surplus. We need it to provide a buffer against this global turmoil. We need it to ensure that the Reserve Bank has room to move on interest rates and to finance critical national building investments for the future. That is why we have delivered a $22 billion surplus. Even the Leader of the Opposition has conceded that the proposed hole in the surplus is gigantic—his own words.