QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (14:12): My favourite part of that was the really embarrassed looks of the poor backbenchers who had to wave around the little pamphlet that contains substantially bigger deficits and much more debt! I pick up where the Prime Minister left off and remind those opposite that Moody's this week, and S&P Global not that long ago, pointed to Australia's low debt ratios compared to those of our peers as a reason to reaffirm Australia's AAA credit rating.
And we have one of the three strongest budgets in the G20. Our debt as a share of the economy is less than half that of the US, less than half of Canada's, less than half of the UK's and less than a quarter of Japan's. We have less debt than any major advanced economy.
The really important point to make here—and I hope they're listening—is that most of Australia's gross debt today was racked up between 2013 and 2022 by those opposite. The overwhelming majority of the dollars of gross debt in the budget was racked up by those opposite. In fact, gross debt is $200 billion lower this year than the trajectory we inherited from those opposite.
That means that instead of paying $35 billion this year in interest costs we'll be paying $28 billion—$7 billion less interest under this government than under the last budget of those opposite. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order. Mr Tehan: It goes to relevance.
The trillion-dollar Treasurer isn't addressing the question, which— The SPEAKER: Nice try, but that was an abuse of standing orders. I simply say that the member stated extra commentary, and we don't need that when taking a point of order. The Treasurer was asked about government policy, opposition policy—a range of topics.
Everyone's in the same room. It was a very large question, with lots of moving parts to it. Dr Chalmers interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order, the Treasurer!
No, I'm not having that. The Treasurer will simply withdraw that and return to the answer. Dr CHALMERS: I withdraw, Mr Speaker.
The SPEAKER: You may continue. Dr CHALMERS: I was asked about debt interest, and I'm pointing out to those opposite that because we've got their debt down so substantially, we are paying $70 billion less in interest than in their last budget. That's because we have delivered two surpluses that those opposite were incapable of.
We have got the deficits down, we are finding savings, but we know that there's more work to do. There are two things that, if they want to be credible in this space, those opposite have to fess up to. First of all, if they had their way, debt would be much higher today.
Their policy at the election under the now Leader of the Opposition, always failing up, was for higher income taxes, bigger deficits and more debt. That's the first point. The second fact that they need to acknowledge today is that most of the trillion dollars of debt in the budget was racked up by those opposite between 2013 and 2022.
In fact, they even doubled the debt before COVID-19. We are managing the economy and the budget in a responsible way; they racked up most of this debt. They should admit that if they want to ask us questions about it.
The SPEAKER: Just like for the member for Spence, there are going to be consequences for actions today. The member for Barker interjected nine times during that answer. He'll leave the chamber under 94(a).
I hear everyone's interjections here, but I hear everyone else's as well. The same rules apply to everyone, no matter where you sit in the chamber. The member for Barker then left the chamber.