Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

So we're repairing the budget, which was left with deficits as far as the eye could see, and debt increasing. Remember that? We had double the debt before the pandemic. We are the first government in a long time to take the issue of budget repair seriously. We have found $22 billion in savings, and redirected spending.

We're still managing, against that backdrop, to invest in hospitals, in aged care and in child care and to support our progress towards gender equality. We're investing more in the NDIS, deepening relations in the Pacific and making sure that we're equipping Defence to respond to some of the challenges that they are facing. We are managing to do all of this while finding $22 billion in savings to start to repair the budget that you left in tatters. (Time expired)

Opposition sena tors interjecting—