George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Returning directly to Senator Rhiannon's question, the government which she supported in office removed $5.7 billion over the forward estimates from the foreign aid budget, and, as the foreign minister in the government that you, Senator Rhiannon, supported in office, former foreign minister Bob Carr said: you cannot have an unsustainable aid budget because you cannot run aid on borrowings. Those were former Senator Carr's words: 'You can't run aid on borrowings.' The current government has got the aid budget back on track. It has been stabilised, in the current financial year, at $5.032 billion, and it will be indexed across the forward estimates. So, Senator Rhiannon, while the government that you sustained in office slashed billions from the aid budget, this government has stabilised the budget and is committed to increasing it in line with CPI.