Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion presents me with a great opportunity to pay tribute to the member for Goldstein for this motion. The member for Goldstein is a great advocate for sound economic policy in this place, in his career prior to coming to this place at the Institute of Public Affairs in trade policy and in his many good works in public life. It's terrific to see him acknowledged by colleagues in this place and recently chosen as the chair of the House economics committee. The motion more broadly gives me an opportunity to speak about the government delivering on strong economic management and delivering on the plan to grow the economy, to provide jobs and to guarantee the services that Australians rely on. The motion also gives me a welcome opportunity to highlight the hypocrisy that typifies the Labor Party.

Responsible financial management is a fundamental building block of good government. It's the building block of a strong economy and of the government's investment in health, education, security, a strong safety net and all the other essential services that government provides. The coalition's proud record of strong financial management was burnished by the great example of the Howard and Costello years. John Howard and Peter Costello inherited from the Labor Party a $96 billion debt and then they left the budget with a $20 billion surplus. They left things in great shape, yet the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government blew that legacy in six short years. They set Australian federal debt levels on a trajectory tracking towards a $1 trillion debt level.

The global financial crisis provided an excuse for Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard to unleash an unprecedented period of rapid growth in government spending. This led to successive budget deficits and mounting public debt which didn't slow down post-GFC. The shortfall between spending and taxing wasn't the only issue. It was also the initiatives Labor's policies produced. They produced wasteful programs like the school halls and the pink batts that tragically caused the deaths of young lives. Labor gave us the carbon tax and the mining tax, which were handbrakes on the economy.

Since 2013, our government has worked diligently to bring the federal spending under control and to balance the budget. That's why Australians have welcomed our government's policy efforts over the past five years to combat budget blowouts and to reduce the deficit left behind by a government addicted to spending.

Our budget management credentials are strong. We've created more than a million jobs since coming to office. Last year, we created over a thousand jobs every single day. Our government delivered over 400,000 jobs in 2017, the highest number of any year on record. The new level of jobs created over the last 12 months represents around four times the jobs growth that occurred in the last year of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. We've halved the deficit. We've introduced a tax-to-GDP cap of 23.9 per cent. We have the lowest average real growth in spending of any government in more than 50 years, legislated through $40 billion worth of savings. We have the lowest welfare dependency in 25 years, with only 15 per cent of the working-age population on welfare, and that is a great human dividend. We've cracked down on tax avoidance both by multinationals and by tax avoidance through the black economy. And through sustainable budget management, for the first time in a decade next year, the government will no longer be borrowing to pay for everyday expenses.

The challenge of government isn't just to develop great policy ideas; the challenge is to develop affordable policy ideas that advance our country, that deliver opportunity, that offer Australians the freedom to pursue their own prosperity and that don't saddle future generations with insurmountable debt. The results of our hard work are paying off. Our strong budget measures mean that our government can assist small and medium businesses—they're the workhorses of the Australian economy—by providing tax cuts for small and medium businesses.

This week, we've announced we're bringing forward tax relief for small and family businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million annually. These businesses will pay a 25 per cent tax rate five years earlier than originally forecast, leaving them money for investment and job creation. Our strong budget management also meant that we could legislate personal income tax for lower- and medium-income earners, giving back Australians more of their money—putting it in their pockets to spend on the things that matter to them.

Our government's strong and enduring record stands, as always, in high contrast to that of those opposite. Not only did Labor rack up a massive debt over six years in office but they haven't learnt their lesson. Labor promises the world but doesn't deliver. They don't deliver any concrete ways of paying for their expenditure. Just like they increased taxes for Gonski and the NDIS, they now have plans for $200 billion worth of new taxes on hardworking families, medium and small businesses, retirees and farmers. They endanger the Australian economy. We cannot afford the Labor Party.

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