Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

ANN (—) (): When we came into government, we inherited a rapidly deteriorating budget position—deficits as far as the eye could see. Indeed, in the 11 weeks between Labor's last budget and the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the bottom line deteriorated by $33 million. That was on the basis of assumptions that were completely non-credible. We have been able to turn the situation around. We have worked very hard over the last six years to put Australia on a stronger, more resilient economic and fiscal foundation and trajectory for the future.

That is why we have been able to deal with the challenges that our country has faced in recent months head-on. That's why we have been able to invest substantially more to support drought affected communities. That is why we've been able to put on the table $2 billion immediately to fund the bushfire recovery activities in bushfire affected areas around Australia. That is why we've been able to provide the immediate response that we have in relation to the coronavirus.

It is too early to fully assess the economic impact, particularly in relation to the bushfires and the coronavirus. But let us contrast our capacity to respond with what happened under our predecessors. Remember the Gillard Labor government. In the context of the floods, what did we get? We got a flood levy as well as the carbon tax that we were promised we would never have. We got the mining tax. There were taxes everywhere. Even at the last election, if the Australian people had decided to elect a different government, we would now have higher taxes, a weaker economy, less opportunity for Australians and less resilience for Australia to deal with the challenges that we're currently dealing with. The work we as a nation and as a government have done over the last six years has put us in a stronger position to deal with the challenges that our country is dealing with right now.