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

Well, no, we cannot say that there is an alternative plan, but I am pleased to inform the Senate that, bit by bit, the Labor Party are backing our plan. This time last year, everything was bad, according to the Labor Party; this year, the Labor Party, bit by bit, are supporting one measure after the other that we are putting forward to strengthen growth, create more jobs and repair the budget. I say to the Labor Party: we are very grateful for your support for some of the key important structural reforms over the past fortnight; but, when we come back in August, there are still some outstanding measures out of your last budget, the 2013-14 budget, to deal with. Because we have not had any alternative spending reduction proposals since the last election, we should go back to the spending reduction proposals in Labor's last budget. We have their proposal to save $2.1 billion from Student Start-Up Scholarships, a $2.1 billion saving which Labor initiated which we would like to legislate. (Time expired)