Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I can indeed confirm that the coalition government is hard at work to fix up Labor's budget mess. I can confirm that we are hard at work, in a methodical, careful and orderly fashion, making decisions that strengthen our economy and that repair the budget mess that we have inherited from the Labor Party. Unlike Labor, which inherited a budget with no debt, with a $20 billion surplus, with cash at the bank, this government inherited a budget with a $30 billion deficit and growing, with net debt heading for $200 billion and beyond, with gross debt heading for $300 billion and beyond, without the government having taken the prudent and appropriate steps to ensure that the government was able to borrow the money necessary to fund the operations of government.