Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Blanket opposition and mindless resistance is nothing to boast about if you truly care about Australia's future.

Early next year, the government will be releasing an Intergenerational Report, containing 40 years of budget projections. Like earlier Intergenerational Reports, it will show that as Australia's population ages, labour force participation will fall. Without economic reform this will slow the economy, reduce growth in the government's revenue base and create additional demands on government spending, particularly in health, aged care and pensions, which represent around 10 per cent of government expenditure.

With the terms of trade in decline and population ageing weighing on workforce participation, the key to sustaining growth in living standards is raising Australia's productivity. Over a year ago as a new Treasurer I said:

There could even be periods where living standards actually decline. We don’t want that!

If we want to sustain national income growth at its thirty-year average, there will need to be a very significant lift in productivity growth.

I said that a year ago and I say it again today. The drop in national income recorded in yesterday's National Accounts highlights that this risk is real. All of the government's actions are being taken with these risks in mind.

The government will support Australia's productive potential in 2015 by investing in infrastructure, improving the efficiency of the federation and the taxation and financial systems, and by sustaining our focus on competition and deregulation. We are transforming industry policy to support innovation and entrepreneurship. We have provided more incentives for new start-up business growth with landmark changes to employee share schemes. Enterprise will drive our growth. Business will drive job creation. This combination of investment and structural reforms will support Australia's long-term rate of economic growth.

In 2014 we made great progress in strengthening the Australian economy so that it is able to better cope with external challenges and internal transitions. But more work needs to be done. Reform has no finishing line in the 21st century. With the government's Economic Action Strategy underway we will all be able to achieve what we hope for—that is, a better and more prosperous future for our nation.

See this speech in context