Another Record Labor Deficit

30/09/11

The final budget outcome for 2010-11 casts further doubts over the Gillard government’s promise to return the budget to surplus in 2012-13.

“The figures released today confirm that over the past two years this government has presided over the two biggest budget deficits in our nation’s history totalling $102.5 billion,” Acting Shadow Treasurer Andrew Robb said.

“Yet you have a bizarre situation in which Wayne Swan and Penny Wong are patting each other on the back for bringing down a budget deficit of $47.7 billion for 2010-11.”

The fact that tax revenue was $1.7 billion lower than the government estimated just four months ago demonstrates the shakiness of Labor’s promise to deliver a modest $3.5 billion surplus in 2012-13.

“This is a government that has never delivered a budget surplus and is increasingly unlikely to do so in 2012-13,” Mr Robb said.

“Wayne Swan and Penny Wong are largely to blame for the crisis of confidence we are now seeing across the economy because of their failure – despite constant warnings from the Opposition – to restore the budget resilience they inherited.

“The government’s addiction to borrowing was also highlighted by the fact that net debt has blown out by more than $2.2 billion since the May budget to $84.6 billion.

“This figure exposes the myth that the government is committed to rapid fiscal consolidation. In this financial year interest payments alone on Labor’s debt will be $5.5 billion, the cost of five world-class hospitals.

“The vulnerable state of the budget is a direct product of the unprecedented levels of spending, borrowing and waste we have seen under the Rudd-Gillard government,” Mr Robb said.