Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

The only revolting thing in this chamber is the Labor Party's opposition to our budget measures, their unwillingness to accept that the debt and deficit disaster that they have left us needs to be fixed up. It needs to be fixed up. We as a nation cannot continue to borrow—listen to this—$1,000 million per month just to pay the interest on the existing borrowings. If we had not stopped the debt trajectory of the Labor-Greens government, that would have gone from $1 billion per month to $3,000 million per month that we would have had to borrow from overseas just to service the interest on the existing loans. That is economically irresponsible and, might I add, unconscionable intergenerational theft, of which we on this side will not be part.