Moncrieff Media

Labor's Nation-Wrecking Budget

12 May 2009

The Gold Coast’s Federal MP’s have criticised Wayne Swan’s Budget, saying Gold Coasters will pay for Labor’s reckless spending.

“This Budget reveals the high price all Australians will pay for Labor’s reckless spending spree over the past 18 months,” Federal Member for Moncrieff Steven Ciobo said.

“One million unemployed by 2010-11, a record $58 billion deficit, and record net debt of at least $188 billion by 2012-13 are all key markers of the failure of the Rudd Government’s economic management.

“Two thirds of the debt owed by taxpayers in 2012-13 will be due to spending decisions taken by the Rudd Government over the past 18 months.

“Since the November 2007 election, Labor has announced measures which have increased Commonwealth spending by $124 billion. That is an average of $225 million of new spending per day,” Mr Ciobo said.

“Labor pretends the destruction of our nation’s balance sheet is an unavoidable consequence of the global recession. But Labor has lost control of the public finances,” Federal Member for McPherson Margaret May said.

“Mr Rudd and Mr Swan have failed to deliver a credible plan for recovery for the Gold Coast.

“The 2009-10 Budget delivers a dismal trifecta: record spending (29 per cent of GDP), a record deficit (5 per cent of GDP) and a further severe increase in the jobless rate to 8.5 per cent.

“Labor’s out-of-control and undisciplined fiscal management doesn’t end at spending. Over the same 18 months since the last election, Labor has introduced tax hikes which increase revenue by $26 billion,” Mrs May.

“Taken together, these decisions represent the biggest tax-and-spend binge in Australia’s peacetime history, driving an expansion in the size and scope of the public sector not seen since the Whitlam years,” Federal Member for Fadden Stuart Robert said.

“By 2012-13, net public debt will surge to $188 billion, double its previous record peak under Paul Keating, and could even be higher. It took the Coalition and the Australian people more than a decade to pay off the previous debt left behind by Labor; how long will it take to pay off Kevin Rudd’s debt"

“The annual interest bill paid by the Australian people in 2012-13 will be $8 billion, more than the Commonwealth spends each year on infrastructure and housing combined.

“In summary, the 2009-10 Budget is a classic tax-and-spend Labor exercise, but on a far more reckless scale than ever seen before.  The Australian people will pay a high price, in terms of higher future taxes, higher future real interest rates, higher future foreign debt and higher unemployment,” Mr Robert said.