Kim Beazley walks both sides of the street. On the one hand, Mr Beazley today wants to

complain about the Government’s savings measures put in place to drive the Budget

into surplus.

On the other hand, he complains that the Government shows the fiscal responsibility of

a “drunken sailor”.

Which is it? Is it the case that the Government is fiscally tight or is it the case

that it is fiscally profligate?

Mr Beazley’s figures, of course, are entirely incorrect. His claim of a $1.6

billion “hole” relates to four years of forward estimates.

We had factored into the Budget $1 billion over four years from a measure to cut down

on FBT avoidance. Labor opposed this and sabotaged the lot. What is more, it was part of

Labor’s election policy. Labor voted against its own policy attempting to drive a $1

billion cost to the Budget and now complains that it has been partly successful.

This is a repeat performance of its opposition over the last four years when it has

opposed every savings measure whilst claiming it is in favour of surplus budgets.

For the record, when it ran fiscal policy over the last five years of Government, its

outcomes were:

18 April 2000

Canberra