John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this matter of public importance, and thank you to those opposite for choosing to give the parliament a full hour to detail the economic leadership that this coalition government has provided for our nation.

We have an economy that is in transition. As the mining investment boom peters out, there have been significant challenges placed on the economy, and yet through this, according to Australian Bureau of Statistic figures released last week, we have added 298,300 new jobs in the 12 months to January. This has led to an annual jobs growth rate of 2.6 per cent, which is well above the decade average of 1.8 per cent. These stellar results follow the government's outstanding efforts in opening up overseas markets through the signing of free trade agreements, our encouragement of competition through our response to the Harper review and our investment of more than $50 billion in infrastructure. To complement all of this, our innovation agenda will help to create a modern, dynamic 21st century economy as we implement key measures to continue building growth, confidence, workplace participation and, above all, more jobs.

We have announced 24 measures, involving $1.1 billion of spending, to create highly paid jobs and help Australia compete globally. This will encourage every business across the country to be more innovative, more entrepreneurial and more prepared to take risks. As the member who is proud to represent a region known as the 'beating heart of innovation' in Australia, I understand the need for us as a government to back Australians to innovate so they can back themselves to produce and provide towards our nation's economic growth.

Part of this conversation is the need for tax reform. Proposals to implement such changes need to be approached and considered in a rational and methodical manner. Australians do not expect policy development to be a running race; they expect their elected representatives to work through the issues, engage the nation in a conversation and finally create a better and more sustainable tax system. As an example, in the later months of last year we did not shy away from a discussion on the GST. Through this conversation, Treasury modelling showed us that raising the GST in exchange for lowering income tax will not deliver significantly higher GDP growth. For this reason, the government will not be taking a GST proposal to the next election.

In this regard, at the next election, the Prime Minister and Treasurer will seek a mandate for tax reform that will drive stronger growth, savings and investment. We on this side understand that Australians are out there every single day working hard and earning and they pay taxes on those earnings. They save for their future and for their children, and they are investing in the opportunities that are out there. These are our constituents and they are key to jobs and growth in this country. They see an economy that is growing and is doing better than all the key economies in the OECD.

Let history be our teacher. When Labor were last in power, they stopped the live trade of cattle to Indonesia. This was an industry that employed the greatest number of Indigenous workers in the vast northern region. It generated over $700 million in export income each year. It was devastated and Australia, for the first time, was labelled as a nation of sovereign risk. Labor entered into an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry to abide by PBAC approvals in exchange for certain concessions. This agreement was reneged on and, around the world—Boston, Zurich, Geneva, London and New York—Australia was again seen as a nation of sovereign risk. Now to this policy on housing that is going to take away a third of the market.

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