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

A less rigorous fiscal approach is that advocated by the opposition and by my counterpart, Mr Robb, who seems to be very good at blogging wildly about debt and meanwhile allowing votes in the parliament which would simply ensure that the government is not able to bring the budget back to surplus. Fiscal responsibility does come down to making sure you take the savings measures which you have accounted for. It does come down to votes. It is not sufficient for Mr Robb simply to blog about debt whilst he allows the opposition to vote against savings measures and to vote for spending measures without showing how they will fund them. The opposition should take the opportunity to speak to Senator Minchin, a former finance minister, before he leaves this place and get some advice about how to run their fiscal policy.