Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance) (14:04): I thank Senator Canavan for that question. We need to build a stronger economy and repair the budget to ensure that every Australian has the best possible opportunity to get ahead. We need to repair the budget and we need to build a stronger, more prosperous economy to ensure that we can protect our living standards and build better opportunities for the future. At any one point in time in our economy and in our budget, there are things that are directly under our control and there are things that are beyond our control. That is whether the Labor Party and the Greens are in government or the Liberal Party and the National Party are in government, as we are now. Senator Conroy: No excuses, you said! Senator O'Neill: That is not what you said on this side of the chamber. The PRESIDENT: Order on my left. Senator CORMANN: Commodity prices around the world are not influenced by who is elected to government at an election. Twenty per cent of our export income today comes from iron ore exports. Senator Wong: 'We stand by our figures.' Senator CORMANN: Senator Wong says that the Labor Party stands by their figures. But in Labor's last budget, they estimated revenue on the basis— Senator Wong: They are your words. You said that you stand by your figures. The PRESIDENT: Order on my left. Senator CORMANN: of a price for iron ore of more than $120 a tonne. We reduced that down to just over $90 a tonne in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook and in the budget. What did Labor say? They said that we were too pessimistic and that we were purposely trying to reduce the level of revenue in order to make the numbers look worse. Guess what? Right now, the iron ore price is hovering at about $63 a tonne. The truth is that whether Labor and the Greens party are in government or we are in government, that would have been the same. What we do know is that, on the spending side, under Labor things would be so much worse. On the spending side, the Labor Party is opposing $28 billion in savings. Today, the Labor leader, Mr Shorten, has again locked Labor into another $15 billion in additional spending. Whatever the situation in the budget and in MYEFO, under Labor it would be $43 billion worse than under the coalition. (Time expired)