Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President. I was in fact finding it difficult, from this place in the chamber, to even hear myself think. This reflects the methodological adherence to our strict fiscal rules, and let me cover them. We are keeping real spending growth to two per cent or less a year; that is around half of what we saw in the last four years of the coalition, and it is around half the rate that spending has grown at in the past 40 years. That is exactly why the OECD has described our strategy as ‘bold’, ‘well designed’ and ‘effective’—some of those references in the OECD report that, of course, selective representation was not covering in question time. We have been offsetting every single dollar in new spending. We have delivered $83.6 billion in savings across three budgets.

I was feeling slightly sorry for Senator Joyce earlier today when I was considering the performance of Joe Hockey as current shadow Treasurer.