Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance) (14:10): What I can confirm is that we inherited a budget in a mess from the worst finance minister in Australia's history. We inherited a budget position that was rapidly deteriorating. We inherited a debt growth trajectory that was rapidly deteriorating. What I can confirm is that the position that we are in now is much better than what it would have been if the Labor Party had been re-elected to government in 2013. What I can confirm is that this side of the parliament is working hard to strengthen growth, to create more jobs and to get the budget back to surplus. The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Minister. Senator Moore on a point of order. Senator Moore: I was on my feet before the minister sat down, Mr President. I wanted to know, on direct relevance, whether we would get any answer to the issue about debt and whether that was coming into the minister's answer. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Moore, I will remind the minister of the question. Minister, you have 28 seconds. Senator CORMANN: Thank you very much, Mr President. The spending growth trajectory that we inherited from the worst finance minister in Australia's history was taking us to 26.5 per cent spending as a share of the economy by 2023-24. We are actually now heading down. Under Labor, spending as a share of the economy was heading up, debt was heading up. We have now turned that situation around and debt is now heading down, and government spending as a share of the economy is heading down. It will peak in 2016-17 and it will— (Time expired)