PM confirms no-debt timeline (Aust to be debt free by July 2006)

[rooboy]

For those of you who wonder how Australians could vote for this jerk...this is why in a nutshell.

Prime Minister John Howard has used a speech to a business audience in Mumbai to confirm that by the end of the financial year, the Australian Government will have no net debt.

Mr Howard is in India's business and economic capital on the second leg of his visit to the country.

When the Coalition Government came to office in Australia in 1996, it inherited a debt of $90 billion.

Mr Howard says the Australian record is especially significant when it is examined against other countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

"We've had over the past few years an enviable series of economic statistics," he said.

"We've seen our inflation remain at a very low level.

"At the end of this financial year the national Government will have no net debt."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1586237.htm

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. That's fairly impressive

Most right wing governments would have been tempted to slash taxes to get short term popularity. Would Labour have spent much more, do you think, or could they have eliminated the debt too?