Q: Tony Abbott said no cuts to health or education. Would you make a similar pledge?

Dutton:

We have said before we are going to provide support and funding to essential services, guaranteed funding in relation to health, for example, in relation to education and examples that you cite because I want to make sure that we are spending money on frontline services, not back office operations and I have been clear about that.

I was Assistant Treasurer in the Howard years and I worked on a number of budgets since then.

A Liberal coalition government will always manage the economy more effectively than Labor. Look no further than what is happening in Victoria. Look no further than what is happening in Queensland, they rack up debt, $1.2 trillion in debt that the government announces in this budget and it is going to take a generation to pay it off because it is about $125,000 per household so the next generation is going to have to pay the bill and Labor will continue to rack up that debt.

That has what has been inflationary in our country and that is part of the reason why groceries are up by 30%. The reason why gas is up by 34%, while electricity is up 32%, why insurance premiums are up. This government has made an economic disaster of the last three years and families, Australian families are paying the price so we will always manage the economy more effectively.