QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (14:17): Thank you to the shadow treasurer for his rare question! I want to make three points about three recent developments. The first one is that, on Friday night, Fitch reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating.

That means we've got the AAA credit rating from all three major ratings agencies and are one of only nine countries in the world that has that from the three agencies. That's the first development. The second development is that, at the end of last month, we released the final budget outcome, which showed that the bottom line for that year was better than what we inherited and better than what was forecast at the election, and it's improved again since the budget.

The deficit was $6 billion better than budget—very importantly, almost half of what those opposite left us—and, overall, the budget's $230 billion stronger than what we inherited. As part of all of that, public demand has eased more quickly than expected at the same time as inflation has picked up. That tells us that there are a number of other factors at play.

All of those are facts. The third development is also a fact, and the third development is this: on the weekend, the Leader of the Opposition went to the far-right conference in Brisbane. He had a shot there at Josh Frydenberg when he said— Opposition members interjecting— Dr CHALMERS: I was asked about spending, and I've dealt with that.

And I was asked about the views of colleagues, and I'm about to deal with that too. When the Leader of the Opposition went to that far-right conference in Brisbane, he had a shot at Josh Frydenberg. He said one of the big mistakes they made in office was that they made a mess of the budget—that they spent too much money.

A lot of our work, in the 4½ years we've been in office, has been to clean up the mess that Josh Frydenberg left behind. That is the fact of the matter. When the Leader of the Opposition went to that far-right conference and he made those comments, the thing that he didn't say, when it comes to spending and the question I got from the shadow treasurer, is that those opposite, since the election, have made more than $110 billion in extra, unfunded commitments.

That would mean that, if those opposite were in office, the deficits that are currently in the budget would be at least twice as big as they are now, and, by their own logic in the shadow treasurer's question, that would be pushing up inflation and interest rates—by his own logic. Is it any wonder that the member for Canning is stalking him inside this place?

The former member for Kooyong is stalking him from outside this place. Josh Frydenberg thinks the Liberal Party is circling the drain on your watch, and he's right.