Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As a result of the economic mess that they created, we were left a trajectory of $667 billion worth of debt and a bill of more than $1 billion a month that was just going to pay interest on Labor's debt. That interest bill would have actually headed to $3 billion a month. The trajectory of spending growth under those opposite was at 3.7 per cent. As a result of our measures, in just 18 months we have reduced that 3.7 per cent to one per cent. We were given the six biggest budget deficits in Australia's history. Twenty one thousand cheques were given to dead people. We were given 21,000 additional regulations. We were given a carbon tax which was ahead of the world and suffocated big and small business alike in this country. We were given a mining tax, which we were told would produce $26½ billion worth of revenue and only produced a bit more than $300 million worth of revenue, at the same time introducing the dangerous notion of sovereign risk and putting at risk significant investments in this country from foreign investors.

That was no laughing matter; that was extremely serious. As a result, we saw more than 400,000 jobs go in small business, as Labor rotated small business ministers like it was a game of pass the parcel. We had an NBN which was over budget and behind schedule. Their NBN started as just a spending program of a few billion dollars; it ended up being a spending program of massively more, but it was not rolled out according to their plan. We had 96 announced but unenacted tax and superannuation measures. We had $9 billion worth of additional taxation on superannuation alone. We had the famous cash for clunkers. We had Fuelwatch. We had GroceryWatch. We had the $100,000 that was spent on fake kitchens for the carbon tax ad. We had $75,000 which was spent on coffee machines. We had waste and mismanagement the like of which this country has never seen. All this time as they were running up debt, they were also given the best terms of trade in 140 years; the best export prices to import prices that this country has seen in more than a century. As a result, under the member for Lilley's watch when he the Treasurer of this nation, revenue went up 22 per cent, but they still gave us additional spending.

Since we have come to government, in just 18 months, we have proceeded on a much more careful and sensible path of economic reform. As the Intergenerational report clearly shows, under us, the debt and deficit legacy that we were left has been more than halved. It has gone from 122 per cent of net debt to GDP—which is the Greek-like proportions that the Prime Minister talks about—to under half of that. But there is still such a long way to go. We are creating jobs at the rate of 600 a day. Economic growth was 2.7 per cent in 2014 compared to under two per cent in 2013. We are building the roads of the 21st century in every state except Victoria, because the Labor government there wants to rip up the East West Link contract again, introducing sovereign risk and costing over 7,000 jobs. We have stopped the boats, which is not only saving more than $10 billion but also saving lives at sea and closing many, many detention centres. We have been successful in abolishing the carbon tax and putting in place a Direct Action program. We have been successful in abolishing the mining tax as well as entering into the free trade agreements with the major economies of China, Japan and Korea.

To understand the significance of the FTA with China: negotiations first started in 2005, the same year that negotiations started between New Zealand and China, and in 2008 China and New Zealand concluded their free trade agreement. It took a coalition government to come to power to actually conclude Australia's FTA with China. It will produce thousands and thousands of jobs, particularly in the service sector, which is 70 per cent of Australia's economy but only 17 per cent of our exports. So too, with Japan and Korea, we are going to create the jobs of the 21st century. We are doing infrastructure programs; we are doing a streamlined tax system; we are doing free trade agreements; and we are paying back Labor's debt.

The other thing is that, right across the economy, we are starting to see the green shoots. Jobs growth is three times faster than it was under Labor. We are now seeing the highest level of job advertisements in 28 months. We have seen eight consecutive months of strong retail figures. As the Prime Minister talked about in question time today, housing starts are up nine per cent, and right across the economy we are starting to see a more confident consumer and a more confident investor—not because of anything that those opposite do, because they in fact talk down the economy, but as a result of our important reforms.

Over the next few weeks you will see us talk a lot more about small business, families and child care. Then, of course, in seven weeks time we will have our budget. Small business is the engine room of the economy. Labor destroyed 400,000 jobs in small business. What the IGR said to us is that the future of living standards in this country is about productivity and workforce participation. There are more than 160,000 parents in this country with children under the age of 13 who cannot go to work because they cannot get an affordable and accessible place of child care. That is why we are caring about that with our families package. Small business is too much overlooked by those opposite because none of them have actually had the experience of working in a small business, unlike those on our side. We care about small business, and we will be giving them the tax cut and the other benefits to get them back into work.

We have a very proud record in just 18 months. It is not because of anything that those opposite have done—because, in fact, we have savings measures worth over $30 billion that are now stuck in the Senate, including $5 billion worth of savings that they took to the last election that they are now blocking. We on this side of the House are determined to push through those obstacles, to announce and promote good economic policy and to explain to the Australian people why we are the better economic managers.

We have seen interest rates come down by 25 basis points; we have seen the Australian dollar come down from parity with the US dollar to now being just above 75c; and we have also seen petrol prices drop by nearly 50 per cent. As a result, that is putting money into the pockets of Australian families. That increased disposable income can actually help stimulate the economy. Economic growth is much stronger than it was under Labor. Jobs growth is stronger than it was under Labor. Housing starts are up. Consumer confidence is building. Of course, with interest rates coming down and petrol prices coming down, we are seeing money in the pockets of Australian families.

Look at Labor's record. It was a fiscal mess that they bequeathed to us. Look what we have done in 18 months. We are not only creating the jobs of today but also the jobs of the future. Australia's balance sheet will always be stronger under a coalition government.

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