Mr. Neil McDonnell:

We said as a starting point that we appreciate all the issues that exist on the current side. However, our pre-budget submission called for a figure of 4% of gross national income, GNI. We were not rashly saying 4% of gross domestic product, GDP. We said 4% of GNI needs to go on infrastructure and then legislators have to decide how to redistribute the rest of the pie, and this is the difficulty and why I am sorry to have to say to the Senator "right back at you". We have over-prioritised current spending at the expense of capital spending and all that is doing is beggaring our children with increased national debt. Our national debt still went up after the budget.