Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline the importance of sound budget management to help build a strong economy and create jobs?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for that question, knowing that he is someone who has long been an advocate of good budget management. The fact is that the government has an economic action strategy that is getting on with the job of helping to build a stronger and more prosperous economy with more and better paid jobs. Importantly, we are ensuring that we can maintain and improve our quality of life over time.

There are some good signs. There are of course bits of conflicting news from time to time but there are some good signs. As CommSec chief economist Craig James said in an article entitled 'Consumers are back in the groove' this morning, 'Aussie consumers are getting on with life'. That is right; they are getting on with it. Australian consumers are starting to pick up. That is coming about because they are starting to get more confidence about the way the economy is heading. They know that we have an economic action strategy to start to address the legacy of deficit left behind by Labor, which simply increased debt. If we were not to take any action the debt of the federal government would increase to $667 billion in 10 years time.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wrong! Wrong!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley says that I am wrong. Okay: $750 billion or $800 billion or maybe $1 trillion under Labor as a result of their actions. But someone has to do the heavy lifting—

Mr Husic interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley will desist.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

because the member for Chifley and his colleagues were always out there not only saying they would deliver a surplus they even claimed to have delivered a surplus! I do not want the member for Lilley to look down, playing solitaire on his computer. He is the one who stood at this dispatch box and said to the Australian people, 'Today I announce four years of surpluses.' Do you remember that, Swanny? Four years of surpluses but then he said he delivered them!

Government members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my right.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We miss you, Swanny, because we know what you really meant. Come on, I am getting a roll on!

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

Government members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my right.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would ask that the Treasurer refer to people by their proper honorific.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton at his polite best. I will ask the Treasurer to refer properly to people in accordance with the standing orders.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not the member for Lilley, the former failed Treasurer of the Labor Party who stood up here and said, 'We are delivering surpluses,' but he never did. I was flicking through his book the other day looking for that great quote.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin is warned!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But I had to go to Bob Carr's book to find it. In that book, Wayne Swan is quoted as saying, 'The budget is in a ruinous state.' He was damn right; the Labor Party left the budget in a ruinous state. But I tell you what: the coalition is ready to fix it. If we do not fix the mess that Labor left, Australians are going to be left with a lesser quality of life—and the coalition would never leave Australia like that.