Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Mr TED O'BRIEN (Fairfax—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (10:43): I can't believe that we are here for consideration in detail about the budget and the Australian Treasurer decides not to turn up. Where is the Treasurer of the country? This is the opportunity for the parliament to hold the Treasurer to account, and he's gone AWOL!

Can any of the Labor members in this chamber explain where the Treasurer is? No-one. Absolute silence.

This is the opportunity for this parliament to hold the Treasurer to account. So I look down the barrel of the camera and I say to the Treasurer: Treasurer, get in here! Don't ignore the parliament.

By virtue of ignoring the parliament, you are ignoring the Australian people. Treasurer, you are expected to be in this chamber to answer the questions of this parliament. If you disregard this parliament, you are disregarding the Australian people.

It's an absolute disgrace! I call on the members opposite to use their phones to personally reach out to the Treasurer and get him into this chamber to start answering questions. There are serious questions to answer, because right now the Australian people are becoming poorer, our economy is becoming weaker and, as a nation, we are becoming far more dependent on foreign supply chains.

Only a few months ago, the Treasurer stood in front of the Australian people—in, I thought, a moment of honesty, and I credited him for this publicly—and conceded his budget was not sustainable. It was a big thing for the Australian Treasurer to admit that, and I gave him credit, because he was right: his budget is not sustainable. The thing that's confusing, though, is that only a couple of weeks ago the Treasurer then stood up in front of the Australian people and—guess what he said about his budget?

He said, 'It's in good nick.' So it had gone from being unsustainable to being 'in good nick', within a matter of months, which begs the question: What have we come to know about the budget over the last couple of months? Has there been some sort of major change? The only major change is that we've received the final budget outlook for the last financial year, and what that tells us is that the budget for the last financial year delivered a deficit of $10 billion.

If you go to the year before that and ask, 'What was the final budget outcome?' the final budget outcome then was $16 billion, but $16 billion as a surplus. Let's do the sums together, shall we? That's a $16 billion surplus, plus a $10 billion deficit.

That means that, in one financial year, the budget has deteriorated by $26 billion—a $26 billion deterioration over one financial year. Then you go to the Treasurer's current budget papers and ask, 'What's he doing this financial year?' This financial year he is forecasting a budget deficit of $42 billion. Let's again build on the sums, shall we?

If last year finished at a $10 billion deficit, and now he's looking at a $42 billion deficit, that means we're going to have a further deterioration of $32 billion in this financial year. To finish off our wonderful mathematical gymnastics here, a $26 billion deterioration plus a planned $32 billion deterioration gives you a $58 billion deterioration over two financial years.

Let me state that again for those opposite, given their treasurer decided to go AWOL and not turn up. Over a two-year period, this treasurer is overseeing a deterioration in the federal budget of $58 billion, and he claims the budget is 'in good nick'. The simple question that has to be answered by the Treasurer, if he decides to bless this chamber with his presence, is: how does a $58 billion deterioration in the Australian budget equate to that budget being, in his words, 'in good nick'?

I look forward to the Treasurer answering that question.