Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance) (14:35): Last night the government delivered a budget which is honest— Opposition senators interjecting— Senator CORMANN: which is fair, which delivers on our commitments, which builds a stronger, more prosperous economy, a more resilient economy— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Cormann, resume your seat. Order! When there is order, we will proceed. Senator Cormann, continue. Senator CORMANN: It is very important that I say that again. Last night the government delivered a budget which is honest, which is fair; which delivers on the commitments we took to the last election; which is building a stronger, more prosperous, more resilient economy where everyone can get ahead; and which starts to repair the budget mess that we inherited from our predecessors. In last night's budget we put a stop to Labor's unsustainable spending growth trajectory because that is the right thing to do in the national interest. The Labor Party never really fessed up to this before the election, but guess what. When you look at the fine print, when you look at the report that came out by the Commission of Audit— Opposition senators interjecting— Senator CORMANN: do you know where the spending growth trajectory was going under Labor? It was going to 26.5 per cent as a share of GDP. The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Cormann, just resume your seat, again. When there is silence, Senator Cormann, I will ask you to proceed. You are entitled to be heard in silence. Senator Cormann, continue. Senator CORMANN: We always have to remind ourselves that the Labor Party, in 2007, inherited a strong economy and a strong budget with no government net debt, a $20 billion surplus and money in the bank. The government was collecting more than $1 billion a year in net interest payments. We are now having to pay $12 billion just for the interest on the debt that Labor has accumulated. We inherited $191 billion of deficits from Labor's first five budgets, another $123 billion in projected deficits from Labor's last budget, and debt is heading for $667 billion without corrective action. The good news is that this government is turning the situation around. We are reducing the deficits before going back into surplus and we are paying off and reducing Labor's debt. (Time expired)