The federal opposition, embattled on many fronts, is trying to gain ground by establishing an alternative economic and fiscal narrative to that of the government.

Labor boasts that the just-released budget outcome for last financial year is better than earlier forecast, but the opposition was quick to criticise, saying with more savings a surplus could have been reached.

On this podcast episode, opposition finance spokesman James Paterson canvasses the economy and the budget, says the opposition needs to sort out its stance on net zero sooner rather than later, insists the Liberals are overwhelmingly behind Sussan Ley's leadership, and reflects on the evolution of his own political positioning.

Paterson describes the budget outcome as a“Labor deficit of choice”.

On Sussan Ley's recent speech attacking middle class welfare, Paterson says,

On the debate within the opposition about net-zero, while Paterson keeps his view for the internal discussion, he flags he wants the issue dealt with as expeditiously as practicable:

On how to make our tax system fairer, Paterson is open to examining ideas such as indexing income tax and taxing a family unit rather than individuals:

Asked about frontbencher Andrew Hastie's recent public activism on policy issues, Paterson describes Hastie as a“close friend” but says the party strongly backs Sussan Ley's leadership:

On his own political positioning after serving a decade in parliament, Paterson says:

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