00:00We've seen a big improvement in the budget and in lowering the debt and lowering the
00:07interest on our debt because we have been so responsible in our budgets where we've
00:12had upwards revisions, we've paid down debt, we've banked that, we haven't spent it.
00:17But yeah, the budget is under pressure and that's unsurprising when we've got things
00:22like defence, health, aged care, all of those areas which are placing pressure and I think
00:28the approach we've taken is to manage that and manage that over time and we'll continue
00:33to do that.
00:34There are obviously decisions that need to be taken across the forward estimates I guess
00:39in future budget processes but every budget that we have done we have found savings, we've
00:45found $95 billion worth of savings and that's helped get the budget in much better shape.
00:51The deficits are much lower than they would have been under the former government and
00:55that's been a big focus of ours when we've been putting our budgets together.
00:59But you can't just snap your fingers and cut services like the opposition are talking about
01:04because that hurts people out there who rely on government services to help them.
01:11Our approach has been to look at this carefully, methodically and responsibly, to find room
01:17to pay for things where we can and to find savings where we can and over time that will
01:22return the budget to balance.
01:23There's enormous restraint in this budget but it's also important when households are
01:27doing it tough, cost of living pressures are there, that the government respond to those
01:31and so you've seen that with Medicare, you've seen that with energy bill rebates and you'll
01:36see that in the approach tomorrow night.
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