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

We need to reduce the deficit and reduce the level of debt growth in relation to recurrent expenditure. This government is doing two things at the same time. We are improving the quality of government spending by actually shifting a significant proportion into capital investment—investment in productivity-enhancing infrastructure that generates stronger growth into the future and as such also generates stronger revenue flows for government. But we need to continue to bring unaffordable spending growth down so that we do not continue to increase the level of debt that is essentially accumulated on the back of day-to-day living expenses. No family would put their grocery bill onto their credit card year in year out and then hand the credit card over at the end of their life and say to their kids, 'You deal with it.' No family would do that, and the Australian government should not either.