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

I was actually going to give Senator Bushby a compliment: at least he has obviously read the budget papers, which is more than could be said for any of the spokespeople who asked questions ahead of him.

In relation to the net debt figures, the budget figures do indicate that net debt peaks at 7.2 per cent of GDP in 2011-12. It might be useful to remember how that compares with the net debt figures of other major advanced economies. The average peak net debt figure of major advanced economies is over 90 per cent of GDP. Ours peaks at 7.2 per cent; the average net debt peak of advanced economies is in excess of 90 per cent of GDP. So let us get a bit of perspective into how much stronger our economy is as a result of where we are in the world, the nature of the terms of trade and the actions of this government to invest in the economy to support jobs, opposed by those opposite. Let us get some perspective of how much stronger our economy is than other major advanced economies.

In terms of this budget, we have delivered a path for a return to surplus. I encourage those on the other side who, like the good senator who asked me the question, actually do care at least a little about the fiscal credentials of the opposition to perhaps suggest to their spokespeople, who are busy wrecking the surplus by opposing some of the savings measures in the government's budget—(Time expired)