Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

the job ads figures, which came out today, show that we are up again in job advertisements. There are more opportunities being created in the job market today than there were at the time of the last election. We are seeing that confidence expressed in the various surveys of business conditions, business confidence and consumer confidence. The government is acting to back Australians to support jobs and growth in our economy. We are doing that through innovation—a statement will be brought down by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Innovation—and a $50 billion infrastructure plan is being rolled out around the country. There is greater choice through greater and more effective competition policy; then there are the trade agreements and, of course, our aspirations for a better tax system.

Australians are paying too high an economic price for our tax system, and we need a system that rewards effort and backs people being out there, working, saving and investing and removes impediments that are holding Australians back. We do not want a tax system that increases the tax burden on Australians. You do not need to increase the tax burden to deal with budget challenges that we as a country are facing. You do that by controlling expenditure and growing the economy. So we want a tax system that helps grow the economy by removing the impediments that are there. You do not want to engage in a tax-system discussion which is just about raising higher taxes to give a bucket of money to the states to spend, as they are already doing. What you want is a strong leadership that understands and identifies the problem, that works through the options and that works collaboratively with states and territories to ensure that we can get a model that deals with the challenges that the Australian economy is facing and Australians are facing—(Time expired)

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