Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Special Minister of State) (14:53): As I have indicated in answers to similar questions in the past, the government's net debt position is better and lower than it would have been if Labor had stayed in government. Labor cannot have it both ways. Labor cannot complain about cuts that are too deep and spending that is supposedly too high. Senator Conroy: Oh yes we can! Senator CORMANN: Senator Conroy says yes, they can be inconsistent; yes, Labor can walk both sides of the road. Well, do you know what? You get hurt when you try and walk both sides of the road. What of course is happening here is that we made adjustments to the unsustainable, unfunded, unaffordable pie-in-the-sky spending promises of Labor. We have brought down spending growth. Instead of having the pie-in-the-sky spending growth that you locked into your medium-term trajectory, we have brought that spending growth trajectory down. It stands to reason that, as a result, government net debt is lower than it would have been if Labor had still been in government. Because of what has happened on the revenue side of the budget, of course there have been certain consequences. Nobody denies that. (Time expired)