Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:43): What I can confirm is that gross debt will be lower than it would have been under Labor. That is what I can confirm. But don't take my word for it; look at your pre-election costings. Labor went to the last election fessing up to $16.5 billion in bigger deficits, and do you know what? That came after $100 billion in additional taxes. Senator Wong interjecting— Senator CORMANN: I take the interjection here from Senator Wong. She has had a lot to say about the level of tax. Well, this government maintains a 23.9 per cent tax-as-a-share-of-GDP cap. Guess who got rid of it in their pre-election costings. Guess who got rid of the tax-as-a-share-of-GDP cap. It was the Labor Party. The Labor Party went to the last election with a commitment to higher taxes, breaking through the 23.9 per cent tax-as-a-share-of-GDP barrier, and was still delivering bigger deficits and delivering bigger and higher debt numbers. So we do not take any lessons from the Labor Party when it comes to good fiscal management. The people across Australia understand that the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments left the budget in a mess and that it came down to the coalition government to again clean up that Labor mess—and we are doing precisely that. Senator Wong: You made it worse. The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Wong. Senator Wong: That is what you have done; you have made it worse. Government senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order on my right as well. Senator Ketter, a point of order? Senator Ketter: Yes, a point of order on direct relevance. My question related directly to the fact that gross debt would pass half a trillion dollars in coming months. The minister went nowhere near answering that question. The PRESIDENT: Well, he went very close to answering. He did confirm something, but probably not the exact question. I call the minister. Senator CORMANN: The hide! Let me say to the good senator that the numbers are of course all published in the budget papers. I know that the Labor Party comes into this chamber trying to play cute games. But let me tell you this: this government continues to work to fix up the mess that you left behind. You guys were spending like drunken sailors. You guys were putting us on a deficit and debt trajectory over the long term that we are still trying to sort out. We are now on track to bring the budget back into surplus by 2020-21, to the tune of $7.4 billion. We are now on track with a situation where net debt will peak as a share of GDP at 19.8 per cent in the 2018-19 financial year. Senator Wong: Higher than it was. Senator CORMANN: Senator Wong says 'higher'. That is because Labor— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Ketter, a supplementary question.