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Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Page: 4306

Budget

Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Leader of the Opposition) (14:00): My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Treasurer's statement on radio this morning that Labor's plan to increase Australia's debt limit from $250 billion to a record $300 billion is 'no big deal'? Does the Prime Minister regard as 'no big deal' putting $50 billion more on our nation's credit card?

Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:00): What the Deputy Prime Minister was referring to this morning was the debt cap changes that the government is bringing to the parliament. This is to deal with volatility during the course of the financial year. Debt will remain below the $250 billion current cap at the end of financial years, but there is volatility during the year. What the Leader of the Opposition, who is obviously struggling to understand the budget—and there is no mystery about that given his lack of interest in economics, as the former Treasurer, Peter Costello, was known to remark on more than one occasion—has obviously not noticed in the budget is that it brings the budget to surplus in 2012-13 exactly as promised. It brings the budget to surplus because that is the right thing for our economy now. It is the clearest sign of a strong economy. It is giving us a buffer for the future. With the government doing the right thing—bringing the budget to surplus—we are giving the Reserve Bank the room to move, should it choose to do so, in reducing interest rates. We know from last week just how important interest rate reductions are to working families.

We have learnt something else today about the nature of the Leader of the Opposition and his approach to budgeting: he does not trust Australian families. That is the issue before the parliament today. We believe hardworking Australian families can be trusted—

Government members: Shame! Shame!

Mr Abbott: Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order: the Prime Minister was asked about putting $50 billion more on the nation's credit card and that is the question—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms AE Burke ): The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. He will not use points of order for argument. The Prime Minister has the call and will be directly relevant to the question.

Ms GILLARD: I was indicating, to the Leader of the Opposition's question, the answer: the debt cap; the importance of the budget surplus; and the importance of staying in touch with and understanding the needs of working families and having a bit of respect for their ability to budget, manage and put their children first instead of spending the day insulting them the way the Leader of the Opposition has.