Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

A well-designed fiscal exit strategy. They do not like to hear it, Mr President. But when we handed down the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook—the budget update—it demonstrated that the government is on track to deliver this disciplined fiscal strategy: a budget on track to return to surplus in 2012-13, well ahead of any other major advanced economy, despite the high dollar hitting government revenue; strong growth; falling unemployment; and the fastest, largest turnaround in government finances in more than 40 years. We on this side of the chamber understand the importance of delivering on this fiscal strategy, just as we understood the importance of backing jobs, standing for jobs. That is the difference in this chamber between that side and this side.