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

With respect to the senator, I am not sure that I would use the verb in the way she has. It is a matter of fact that we are a lower taxing government than the coalition. That is a matter of fact. The statistics bear that out. On this issue, we do part company with the Australian Greens. We think that you do have to be responsible in how you levy taxation and the way in which you construct your revenue base. Regardless of other policy decisions that people may discuss, the reality is that the global financial crisis has hit revenues across the world, in advanced economies and in developing economies as well. Obviously, when you have asset values taking the hit that they have taken globally and domestically, that is going to reflect on and flow through to your revenues; similarly, to other heads of revenue. The reality is that revenues have been hit in this country and in other countries by virtue of the GFC and subsequent global financial volatility. (Time expired)