Mr SWAN (Lilley—Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer) (14:48): I really do thank him for this question—I really do. The fact that he could somehow say that the performance of the New Zealand economy is a better performance than the performance of the Australian economy leaves me completely dumbfounded. The fact is our economy is 13 per cent larger than it was prior to the global financial crisis. Mr Pyne: Madam Speaker, on a point of order: to be relevant the Treasurer needs to answer the question he was asked, which was about his government's performance, not about the New Zealand economy. It was about his government's performance versus New Zealand's. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Treasurer has the call. Mr SWAN: Thank you, Speaker. Unlike the shadow Treasurer I am proud of what our country has achieved over the past 5½ years: 960,000 jobs. How have we done that? Because we have a responsible level of debt, we have a good fiscal policy which has been given the tick by the major ratings agencies and we are making major investments in our future—major investments in economic infrastructure, major investments in schooling—and, of course, making our country fairer. We can do all of these things if we have a detailed plan. In our budget we have put out a detailed plan about how we are going to grow our economy, how we are going to be a smarter economy to take advantage of the Asian century and how we can make our society fairer. We have done that within a responsible fiscal policy. Our performance across any range of indicators is far better than New Zealand's. So I feel very sorry for the shadow Treasurer, who wants to keep running our country down. He does not get the basis of our economic strength. He does not understand what we need to do to keep our economy strong. Of course, they will invent any reason to avoid laying out a detailed plan for the future. The SPEAKER: The Treasurer will return to the question. Mr SWAN: Well, they will invent any reason, Speaker, for refusing to put out a detailed plan. That is why we have had the fiscal fearmongering in here today. They want to use the excuse of debt—which is low by any standard and far lower than New Zealand's—so they are not going to tell the Australian people what they would do if they were elected after September. We know they have a secret plan for savage cuts. We know that, and all of their economic questions asked in this House go to the very core proposition I have just put. When they come in here and say it is a big-spending government—which it is not—that is just code for saying that if they were in power they would slash and burn when it comes to health, education and jobs. That is why you will not see a detailed plan from the Leader of the Opposition tonight.