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

Senator Wong, who cannot stop herself continually interjecting, says it has gone worse under us. The trajectory was on a steep incline when we came to government. We have decreased that steep incline. Is it still increasing? Yes, because to turn the ship of debt around takes some time. What is more, for the first nine months of this government the Labor-Green majority in this place denied us the capacity to turn the ship around. They even voted against their own savings proposals that they took to the last election. They refused to pass $5,000 million worth of election savings through this place, despite going to the people and saying, 'This is bipartisan policy. We support these savings.'

Are we in tight financial circumstances? Yes, we are. Are we making every single dollar count for the best possible value for the Australian taxpayer? Yes, we are. Are we getting rid of some of the ridiculous, unfunded promises from the Labor Party? Yes, we are. We said we would. We are doing it because we do not want to leave—(Time expired)