Mr TONY SMITH (Casey) (16:35): It is extraordinary. On a matter of public importance about Labor needing to bring its spending under control, from each of the Labor speakers we have heard, there has not been one mention of the word 'debt' or the word 'deficit'. The answer to why that is so is: they confirm they care about neither. We have seen something else with previous speakers—and I will exempt the last speaker, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer. As well as avoiding the topic of this MPI and launching attacks on our side of politics, the Assistant Treasurer, once again, demonstrated the incredible capacity Labor has to mix its metaphors when trying to tell a story. The member for North Sydney rightly said that we all grow up learning stories and fairytales. And sayings are handed down, are they not, from family to family? I was horrified to hear the Assistant Treasurer say in response to the member for Cowper that they were going to open the barn door and let the fox into the henhouse. Mr Hartsuyker: I'm confused and I'm National Party! Mr TONY SMITH: At first I thought that it is just a reflection on the Assistant Treasurer. I should not single out our old friend the admiral; this is just him. I should not generalise and say that this is a Labor Party trend, but then I was reminded, I regret to say, that this is in fact a trend with those opposite. We had the Treasurer last year say: 'They have their heads stuck so far in the sand they cannot see the wood for the trees.' This is just a small illustration of the competence of those opposite. Of course, if they mix their metaphors on something so simple, it is no wonder they cannot get any of their budget numbers right. Mr Ripoll interjecting— Mr TONY SMITH: I am invited to attack you on debt and I will. Thank you for the invitation. I was not going to forget in the last seven minutes, but since you have asked me to recite the debt story, I think I will, because you failed to mention it. As my friend the member for Higgins has been pointing out—you said you listened to those opposite—$96 billion was the level of net government debt left behind by the Hawke-Keating government. We had the Assistant Treasurer saying, 'What did those opposite do when they got into power in 1996? They reduced spending.' Why would we have done that? All through the election campaign in those days before the Charter of Budget Honesty you had Labor ministers saying that the budget was in surplus. When the election was over and there was a new government the Treasury said, 'Actually the budget's in deficit by $10 billion.' Net government debt was $96 billion. It took more than a decade of responsible budgets to pay off $96 billion of net government debt. In fact debt-free day, I think, was on 20 or 21 April 2006. It took 10 years to pay it down. What happened after that with surpluses? Money began to be banked into the Future Fund—something Wayne Swan is looking at very closely today. Mr Hartsuyker: He can't keep his hands off it. Mr TONY SMITH: That was the debt story. It was Labor's debt story of $96 billion; our story of paying off that debt. Remember when debt was paid off and money was being banked there was a guy called the member for Griffith—who is still here in this House—as the Leader of the Opposition saying that he was a fiscal conservative and he believed in surplus budgets. Then the Labor government was elected. What has happened since? Have they produced a surplus budget? No. Ms Rishworth interjecting— Mr TONY SMITH: Don't you worry, we will go all through the years. Let us have a look at what has happened since. It started with $45 billion in the bank. Net debt is now projected to be $144 billion or $145 billion. Let us look at how accurate they are. Let us judge them on their precision. For the member for Kingston up the back, let us just take the last two years. Do you agree the GFC is over? Ms Rishworth interjecting— Mr TONY SMITH: No, sorry; not on the talking points. That was a question without notice. Let us take the last two years. It is helpful that you do that. Let us just start from the end of the last election. The mid-year update was brought out in December 2011. It is worth having a look at what the Treasurer said debt would be for the 2012-13 year, what it would peak at. Back then, this is under two years ago, the Treasurer said, 'Net government debt would peak at $93 billion.' About six months later, in the budget of last year, he said it would peak at about $104 billion in the 2012-13 year. Then at the mid-year update at the end of last year he said $133 billion. This year's budget it is $143 billion. So from $93 billion to $143 billion—what is a $50 billion blow-out in two years? If you compare it with the debt blow-out in the last five or six years of the Keating government, where net government debt went from something like $17 billion to $96 billion, that is just a blow-out of about $79 billion or $80 billion. You start to get the picture. Net government debt just escalates under Labor every single year. It is escalating today. You do not have to just look at their inaccuracy on net government debt projections; look at the last financial year. Over a similar period the initial projection for the budget deficit was $12 billion, then $22 billion, then $37 billion, then $44 billion on budget night. I do not have the final number yet; we will be getting it any day. I have to say that, if these guys were playing basketball, they would miss the backboard. If they were kicking for goal in an AFL match, they would hit the interchange bench. They would be out of camera shot. It reminds me of an infamous aviator who filed a flight plan in the 1930s to fly, I think, from New York to California. He filed the flight plan, took off and landed in Ireland. His name was Wrong Way Corrigan. I am being a bit cruel to Wrong Way Corrigan because it transpired later that he actually meant to go in a different direction. It was all a bit of a trick. But in relation to debt—$144 billion—we have had a $50 billion blow-out in two years. And now we have a $120 billion black hole blow-out. Those opposite will announce spending plans but they will not announce how they are paid for. It is always the same way under Labor: escalating debt and more taxes. It is the same way. When was Labor's last budget surplus? Mr Hartsuyker: 1988? Mr TONY SMITH: It was in 1989. You have heard the story about what Labor does. If you look at the last couple of years, you will know the future under Labor. In their hearts, those on the government side know it. That is why the famous five stood up in caucus. Four members of this House—the fab four—started to ping the Treasurer for his irresponsibility. (Time expired)