Lin Thorp (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What are they doing now? Having broken all those promises made pre-election and conned the Australian people into believing that they were getting what they voted for, they have now manufactured a budget crisis, a budget emergency. Yet, that is not what the experts say. All the chief economists say that Australia has an 'enviable budgetary position compared to other rich countries'. None thought the speculated deficit levy was 'an intelligent way to repair the budget'. 'Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist … said it was important to get the deficit under control in the longer term, but there were serious risks involved in moving too quickly.'

The economy is still fairly soft. Growth is below trend … I don’t see any particular urgency about 2014-15 or 2015-16.

On the most recent figures the Australian government’s debt is $191.5 billion, forecast to rise to more than $600 billion—

we are recognising the figures here—

The forecast deficit is $47 billion, but all economists said these figures were tiny—compared with other OECD countries—as a percentage of the overall economy.