Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mackellar for his question. I know that he is working hard for the people of Avalon, for the people of Dee Why, for the people of Mona Vale—across his electorate—to support families, businesses, and retirees. The people of Mackellar, like people across this whole country, are benefiting from the actions of this government, helping to create a stronger Australian economy—a stronger Australian economy which has seen GDP real growth at 3.4 per cent through the year; a stronger economy which is seeing the budget come back to balance a year earlier than expected, in 2019-20; a stronger economy which has seen our AAA credit rating reaffirmed by the three leading credit-rating agencies; a stronger economy which has created more than one million new jobs; and a stronger economy which, today, saw the unemployment rate come down to five per cent. That is the result of a Liberal and National Party government.

We know that the benefit of a strong economy is that you can provide and fund the health services that the public need, you can put new drugs on the PBS, you can increase funding for schools and for tertiary education, and you can increase the support for those who need it most, like those needing disability support services. But you can also provide tax relief—tax relief, as the parliament of Australia did today, when it passed the Morrison government's tax cuts for three million small and medium sized enterprises. Today, we passed tax cuts through this parliament which will support businesses which employ around seven million Australians. If you are running a cafe, today—as a result of our legislation—we're putting an extra $2,500 in your pocket each and every year. If you are running an independent supermarket or a pub, as a result of our legislation that passed the Senate today, we're putting an extra $12,500 in your pocket each year. This is what Liberal and National Party governments do.

We reduce taxes, and we grow the economy. In contrast, those opposite have a five-point plan to increase your taxes—to increase your taxes on your income, to increase your taxes on your business, to increase your taxes on your savings, to increase your taxes on your property and to increase your taxes on your electricity bill. Only the Liberal Party and the National Party, in the Morrison government, can be counted on to grow the economy, to create more jobs and to reduce your tax bill.

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