Finance minister channels Arnold Schwarzenegger while trying to fend off budget attacks from Labor

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has channelled Arnold Schwarzenegger while trying to fend off budget attacks from Labor, calling the opposition leader an “economic girlie man”.

He told Sky News Labor’s problem was that “Bill Shorten is an economic girlie man” – co-opting phrase coined by the former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a 2004 Republican convention speech directed at budget pessimists.

An extract from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2004 Republican convention speech.

Labor has said it could get the budget back to surplus before the Coalition, which is facing difficulty getting several controversial measures through the Senate.

Cormann said Labor had no viable plan to achieve a surplus and challenged the opposition to reveal where it would make cuts and increase revenue.

Labor MP Ed Husic responded by saying Cormann should stop the “juvenile name-calling” and fix the budget.

“The Terminator should become the Deodoriser and get the stink out of his budget,” he told Sky News.