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

I can confirm a number of facts, and perhaps Senator Cormann would like to acquaint himself with the facts. The first fact is that we are a lower taxing government than those opposite were when they were in government—fact. Additional facts that they might want to be aware of are the facts around spending as a share of the economy, because there are a lot of statistics that people can put to their own ends but the facts are that this government, in this budget period, is spending less as a share of the economy over the forward estimates period—over a sustained period—than any government since the 1980s: at or below 24 per cent of GDP over four years. The last time that was achieved was in the 1980s, and it was certainly never achieved under the coalition government over that period.

I would make this point too: if those opposite are really saying that there should never be an increase in nominal spending then they should be up-front with the Australian people and say, 'We don't want pensions indexed; we don't want funding for schools and hospitals indexed; we don't want any of the indexation which currently exists in Commonwealth programs.'

If that is your policy then why don't you stand up and tell up everybody? You will not, because it is not true. You know that would be politically unacceptable, so you come in here and you put forward a whole range of so-called facts based on reading an article in a particular newspaper that you have not bothered to check out. Why don't you have a read of the budget papers and have a look at the spending as a share of GDP over the forwards and tax as a share of the economy over the forwards? If you do not understand it, turn around to Senator Sinidinos and he will explain it for you, Senator Cormann.