Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Forrest for her question, and I do appreciate her absolute focus on jobs. When the government went to the people in the last election campaign, we said that we had a strong plan to back hardworking Australians. We had a plan to create a strong and prosperous economy so that we could have a safe and secure Australia. I can advise the member for Forrest that the plan is working, so we are sticking to the plan. Last month, 17,000 jobs were created in our economy. The month before that, 40,000 jobs were created in our economy. Over this year, 167,000 jobs have been created. Since the election, more than 300,000 jobs have been created. Jobs growth now is 10 times the rate of jobs growth in the last year of the former Labor government. This is due to the fact that, in our economy, we have strong and creative businesses, we have committed and dynamic workers and we have a sensible government which is putting the right policies in place: lower taxes, more roads and freer trade. Freer trade is at the heart of our plan for more jobs in the months and years ahead.

The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is the next step in our plan for a stronger economy. I note that the CEO of Burch Family Wines in the electorate of Forrest said the other day, 'The big prize for us is China. When I am in China talking to government people and businesspeople, they are seeing the opportunities and moving in a direction to capitalise on the opportunities, and I think that's very exciting.' But it is not just winemakers in Forrest; it is all winemakers, including Drakesbrook Wines and the Ritual winemakers in Canning. All winemakers will see tariffs of up to 20 per cent entirely eliminated. All beef exporters, including Margaret River Premium Meat Exports, in Forrest will see the tariffs on beef entirely eliminated. Once the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is in place, 95 per cent of our exports to China will be entirely duty free. That is why this is the ultimate export deal. We all talk in this place of the Asian century. This free trade agreement puts us at the heart of the Asian century; that is why this parliament must finalise this deal as soon as possible.

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