Mr HOCKEY (3:52 PM) —My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to the Treasurer’s pledge in the budget papers to keep real spending growth to just two per cent per year. Given that he is expecting the defence budget to increase by double that amount over the forward estimates, to pay for growing defence expenditure, which portfolios are going to have the massive spending cuts to meet his pledge, after the election?

Mr SWAN (Treasurer) —They have certainly run out of questions, Mr Speaker. They are now asking me to deliver next year’s budget today! It is just extraordinary. It is absolutely extraordinary. But the member for North Sydney does correctly point to our commitment to put a spending cap on once growth returns to trend. He correctly points to it. I was talking about it before. It is the fiscal rule that we will operate by, and we put it out there for a very good reason. We do not apologise for providing funding to the Defence Force, for giving them certainty and for meeting our election commitments to fund the Defence Force. We do not apologise for the white paper. We do not apologise for our commitment to future capability. We do not apologise for any of it. We do acknowledge that we have to have fiscal rules, going forward. We have outlined them in great detail. I will talk to you next year!

The SPEAKER —Before I give the call to the member for Wakefield, I remind the member for O’Connor of his obligation to take his seat.

Mr Tuckey —Thank you very much, but I just needed to pass a message.

The SPEAKER —All right. Well, pass your message quickly, please.