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

The Labor Party does not have a policy on how to repair the budget mess they left behind. The Labor Party just wants to continue to add to the deficit; they want to continue to add to the debt. They want to continue to put our hands into our children's pockets and our grandchildren's pockets so that they have to pay back the Labor-Green debt with interest. One day between now and the election, it will dawn on Mr Shorten that if he wants to have a credible policy in the lead up to the next election, he will have to explain whether he still believes that we should get back to surplus. If he does not like our plan, how will he get back into surplus? Does he want to push up taxes? Does he want to bring back the carbon tax and the mining tax and all his other Labor taxes?