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SenateTuesday 12 May 2026

QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:17): This is a budget with aspiration and fairness at its core, a budget which focuses on helping with the cost of living and a budget which recognises that we have a responsibility to strengthen Australia's resilience for these times. We can do this whilst placing a premium on responsible savings, on reprioritisation and on restraint.

The budget will include a larger-than-usual gross savings figure, with $64 billion in savings and reprioritisations. These savings are helping to pay down the trillion dollars of Liberal debt the government has inherited. Let's remind those—I know Senator Henderson is very chatty today in an attempt to try to perhaps distract attention from the dreadful result that they had on Saturday.

She might be interested in knowing that your last budget in government did not include a single expenditure savings measure. Of course, the reality is that what we know is those opposite— (Time expired)

SourceSenate, Tuesday 12 May 2026 — official recordTA-260512-senate-e62ae0e7f193:s129