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

First, this budget delivers a budget surplus on time and as promised. Second, in terms of the 2011-12 figures, I am happy to go through them in detail. In terms of the shift between 2011-12 and now, for the 2011-12 year we had about $9 billion in revenue write-downs. Some of those, obviously, resulted from what occurred in Europe, particularly towards the end of last year. We had a significant bout of global instability, which obviously has an effect on our economy via various mechanisms but particularly through its impact on confidence.

As a senator from Queensland, the senator might also like to know that some $2.3 billion of the increase in the deficit between the mid-year review and the budget was a consequence of natural disasters, particularly in Queensland. We made advance payments to Queensland of $1.3 billion to ensure the rebuild task could continue and we have had to revise up our natural disaster bill for 2011-12 by at least a billion dollars. The senator would also be aware that we have chosen to provide some carbon price assistance up front.

I am asked how we can demonstrate that we will deliver the surplus and I make this broader point. Between the 2011-12 budget and this year's budget, we had about a $10 billion write-down in revenue for the 2012-13 year. We have made savings to offset that revenue write-down and to protect the bottom line. We have demonstrated our determination to protect the surplus and make savings to do so.