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

The answer to the first question is no. This government, since its election in September 2013, has worked very hard on getting under control the unsustainable and unfunded spending growth trajectory that Labor and the worst finance minister in Australia's history, Senator Wong, left behind. In the period of the Abbott government we made significant progress in getting expenditure under control, and the Turnbull government is working to further build on that progress to ensure Australia is on the strongest possible economic and fiscal foundation for the future, to ensure that Australia is as resilient as possible and in the strongest possible position to take advantage of the opportunities coming our way. What Labor has never understood and what Senator Wong clearly has not understood is that just before they were about to lose government they sought in a very deceptive way to lock in expenditure increases across a whole range of areas in government, to lock in in legislation permanent and structural increases in expenditure. (Time expired)