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

The gall of the shadow Treasurer to bring this matter of public importance given his record when he was in office! In fact, business confidence was at rock bottom in 2008 when the member for McMahon was the Assistant Treasurer. But it is now in positive territory. We will never let them forget those famous quotes from when they were in government. On ABC Radio National on 13 May 2010, the member for McMahon said, 'The government has returned the budget to surplus three years ahead of schedule and ahead of any other major advanced economy.' That must have been a pretty quick surplus, because it came and went at the speed of light.

We do need good economic leadership in this country after the disaster of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. They saw massive blowouts on their border protection policies—more than $11 billion—and the human tragedy of that policy. And the member for McMahon was the immigration minister for a considerable period of time. They saw more than 20,000 regulations being created which strangled both small and big business alike. They wasted more than $29 billion on an NBN which became a bloated bureaucracy. They wasted billions on school halls and they wasted $2.8 billion on Pink Batts, which tragically lead to a loss of life. Who can forget the $900 cheques, the cash stimulus that Labor pumped out to 27,000 people living overseas and to 21,000 people who were already deceased? And what about that press release the member for McMahon rushed out before the last election promising no superannuation changes for five years when we know he was part of a government that brought in 12 adverse changes to superannuation and an additional $9 billion worth of taxes? Of course, we know what they did to defence. They reduced defence spending to 1.56 per cent of GDP, the lowest level since 1938. And we also know that they rotated their ministers and their prime ministers in their six years of government. We had two prime ministers, three deputy prime ministers, five ministers for regional development, six ministers for small business and nine ministers for education. It sounds like a nursery rhyme. But it is not. It is actually the Labor Party's record in government.

That is why we need good economic leadership—and we have had that from the Treasurer and the Prime Minister. Listen to what the Treasurer has helped oversee. The number of job advertisements in this country is now 16.2 per cent higher than the level we inherited from Labor. Retail sales are 8.8 per cent higher than we inherited in September 2013. Exports are now 11.4 per cent higher than the level we inherited in September 2013. The number of residential dwellings under construction is 23 per cent higher than when we came to government. Personal bankruptcies are at a 20-year low. Investment in the services sector grew by 12 per cent in the last financial year. Dunn & Bradstreet noted last week that 'we are seeing robust levels of optimism across all sectors in the Australian business community'.

As the member for McMahon said, we had 0.2 per cent growth in the June quarter. This followed GDP growth of 0.9 per cent in the March quarter, which was much higher than expectations and considerably higher than other G7 countries. The resource-reliant nations of Canada and Brazil have had consecutive quarters of negative economic growth—they have technically gone into recession—whereas Australia continues to its 25th year of economic growth. Our plan is much more than just plying back Labor's debt. If you look at some of the numbers in the IGR, if we had not taken drastic steps in the last two budgets, Labor' debt would have seen us at 122 per cent of GDP, or $5.6 trillion, by 2055. I can tell the House that because of our legislated measures—not our announced measures but our legislated measures—we have halved that debt trajectory to just $2.6 trillion, or 57.2 per cent of GDP, by 2055. We accept that that is too high. And if we are able to get our other measures through the Senate then I am sure that we will significantly reduce Labor's debt.

There are other positive signs across the economy. More than 330,000 jobs have been created since we came to office. That is four times faster than under Labor. We have seen record female workforce participation. In fact, 171,000 women are in jobs who were not in jobs at the time of the 2013 election. Retail trade is also stronger and service exports are stronger. As well, we saw a large jump—223,000—in the number of new companies registered in Australia in 2014. That was a 10.2 per cent increase on the level we saw in the year before that. And Greg Hunt, as environment minister, has done a brilliant job in cutting red tape and green tape, which has seen nearly $1 trillion worth of projects receive their environmental approval—and since we came to government we have halved the approval time.

You have heard this chamber debate long and hard the importance of infrastructure and the Prime Minister declare that he wants to be Australia's infrastructure Prime Minister, and he is delivering. The WestConnex project, with a $1.5 billion contribution from the federal government, will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Bruce Highway, with a $3.6 billion federal contribution, will create another 10,000 jobs. The Pacific Highway duplication, which will receive a $5.6 billion contribution, will create 4,000 jobs in construction. NorthConnex, with a $398 million contribution, is expected to create more than 8,000 jobs. And, of course, regarding a second airport for Sydney, where there was nearly half a century of delay and deliberation, a decision has now been taken by this government. The second airport for Sydney is forecast to create 4,000 construction jobs and 35,000 jobs by 2035.

We all know about the infamous East West Link, which was shovel-ready and was going to create thousands of jobs. The member for Deakin, the member for Corangamite, the member for La Trobe and the member for Casey were all firmly aware of the benefits that would have flowed from that project when those opposite and their brothers in the union movement and in the Labor Party in Victoria ripped up a written, signed, agreed contract and introduced the dark spectre of sovereign risk into my state of Victoria and into our country, Australia.

Then, of course, today's question time and today's motion were all about the coalition's commitment to succeeding in free trade where those opposite have failed. We know that in their six years in government they failed to deliver a free trade agreement with Korea, a free trade agreement with Japan and a free trade agreement with China. We know that tens of thousands of new jobs will be created in agriculture. In places like Broome you will see mining, agriculture and gas production. In areas across the country you will also see our wine growers benefit. In my state you will see financial services and other professional services benefit. Today, services are 70 per cent of our economy but just 17 per cent of our exports. That is the big winner out of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. With all of our exports being 95 per cent tariff free over the life of this agreement, it can only be a good thing for Australia. That is why Labor luminaries like Bob Hawke and Martin Ferguson and the state premiers Daniel Andrews, Jay Weatherill and Anna Palaszczuk in Queensland are all behind this agreement. Even Bob Carr has jumped on the bandwagon and agreed to this agreement. He has supported it while the Labor Party is again singing the tune of the union movement.

As we heard today in question time, the Leader of the Opposition was opposed to the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement before negotiations even began. He called it a rushed agreement four weeks after negotiations began and continues to be an obstacle because he supports the union cause and not what is in the national interest.

We have a very proud record. The Treasurer has led from the front. He has delivered a budget that has been well received by big business and small business and that has created tens of thousands of new jobs across the economy. In Andrew Robb we have a trade minister who is delivering new agreements for us with important economies. We have a Prime Minister whose leadership and commitment to jobs, growth and productivity is actually seeing the light of day. This is a welcome relief after the disaster of Labor.

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