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

Despite the numerous challenges that we face economically—low world growth; weak trade growth; low wages growth, which is characteristic of all the advanced economies around the world, which is pointed out in the OECD report—despite the fact that we are transitioning from a once-in-a-lifetime mining-investment boom and despite the fact that we are dealing with the erosion of what has been a century-old coal-based energy advantage which has been receding, cheered on by those opposite as they have cheered on the closure of places like Hazelwood and others, and despite the uneven impact of globalisation and technological change around the world, but also particularly here in this country as well, the OECD confirms again in this report today that the Australian economy leads the advanced world.

Our rate of growth continues to be higher than the OECD average, as it has indeed been since this government was first elected in 2013 in every single year. The Turnbull government is committed to ensuring that we continue the pro-growth, pro-investment, pro-higher-real-wages, pro-employment and pro-jobs-growth policies which involve supporting businesses to be able to give workers more wages and more hours so they can increase their standards of living. We are growing faster than Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Netherlands, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand. All of this is pointed out in the OECD report today. Our jobs growth is higher than the OECD average, and, indeed, our unemployment rate is lower than the OECD average.

This country has enjoyed—and not through any lack of effort from the hardworking Australians who have been out there making this happen for the last 25 years—25 years of consecutive annual economic growth. This is an extraordinary achievement that is the product of the hardworking Australians who have been out there making it happen for 25 years, the investment of businesses and the good policy settings which were followed by the Hawke-Keating government and the Howard-Costello government. These are policies that this side of the House continue to honour. We continue to pursue those policies and support those policies that set up 25 years of consecutive economic growth. Those opposite have abandoned those policies. Those opposite have abandoned the economic policies of Bob Hawke to adopt the economic policies of Bob Brown. They take economic growth for granted and they assume they can continue to tax Australian businesses, tax Australian small businesses and tax hardworking Australians even more and more and more. Whether they invest, whether they work, whether they save, their answer is to tax hardworking Australians more and more. That is not how you grow an economy.

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