Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a great pleasure to speak on the MPI on the government's failure to provide an economic plan for Australia. I just want to acknowledge the contribution of the member for Page, who rightly set out the government's plan when he spoke about how it affected his electorate. He spoke about the ongoing rollout of the CCT program. He spoke about the wide-ranging benefits of the free-trade agreement that are flowing today to his electorate, and gave an example of meatworks. He spoke about stronger communities grants. They are the fundamental building blocks of our plan. They are the fundamental building blocks for a plan to move this country forward and built on the principles of growth and jobs. We will continue to make sure that that becomes our mantra—growth and jobs—as we take our plan forward.

I draw to the attention of the honourable members in the chamber here today to the front page of today's The Australian paper. A Newspoll had polled on the two leaders, Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten, and the economy. The results were resounding. The Australian people believe that the plan that we have, and that we are taking to the election, is sound, because it has been well-laid out. The evidence from the Newspoll, 58 to 22, was that Australians believe in our plan. They believe in our plan on climate change—51 to 23. They also believe in our national security plan—55 to 21. So, on all measures, the Australian public overwhelmingly support our plan.

When you have a plan you need to take the Australian public with you, and there needs to be an element of trust. I talk no other than our historical record when it comes to economic management. When we took government some years back, there was $96 billion worth of debt—

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