Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to congratulate the member for Berowra, my good friend, and the author of 'Leeser economics: the wisdom and insight around strength and growth and opportunity'. I need to make it clear that I am not taking ownership of that title. That is of course up to the member of Dawson, but he has inspired me. More critically, this motion speaks to the government's ambition and exactly what this government wants to achieve.

Throughout earlier debates today, we have heard other members, particularly the member for Fremantle, rant and rave about the narrowness of the government's agenda—only focused on tax. Don't get me wrong: tax is part of the government's agenda. But we see in this motion, in particular, a substantive component of every part of the full suite of the government's agenda in focusing on investment in infrastructure to build Australia's future; knowing we can pursue the opportunities of greater free trade with our neighbours and across the world; and the opportunity to build on the earlier success of a million new jobs over the previous five years to 1.25 million for the next five years. And of course there is that critical test, which the opposition has never met, of a budget surplus, one where the economy grows strongly but we also maintain prudent management of our books so that we can pay down the legacy of their debt and deficit and the fixed expenditure that they legislated without any care or concern for future generations—a discarding of concern for Australians and their future. And of course we're doing this all. And it must bite so hard that we were able, at the end of the last government, to have delivered—but also that we will be able to continue to deliver, at the end of this one—record funding for schools and hospitals. They talk it; we deliver it—that is the critical difference.

We have had the member for Cooper up here, waxing lyrical about her various concerns and saying, 'Where are these economists that are saying the Australian economy is growing strongly?'—which is filled very easily with answers like that from the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Philip Lowe. We also have people like Chris Richardson, from Access Economics, saying the same thing.

Don't misunderstand: economies go through challenging times; economies face external threats; they do. It would be nice to be in a position where we could pull more fiscal stimulus levers, but I recall that they were all blown in one hit by the previous Labor government. We have other levers we can pull: monetary policy and interest rates. And we have the opportunities of structural reform. There are plenty of measures that we can take. But we need to be adaptive and responsive and understand the critical challenges that we face. Yes, we do need to be agile and innovative, but the benefits of being agile and innovative can only be secured if you run a strong budget position. And the legacy of the member for Oxley and his colleagues on the other side of this chamber is that they have shown scant regard or concern for doing so.

But what is the benefit to Australians from this record investment? Most members will be able to say quite clearly what they think the benefits are in their electorates. So why don't we talk about some of the benefits in the wonderful Goldstein electorate, where, by delivering $100 million of infrastructure investment, we were able to do things like upgrade parking at local stations like Hampton, Brighton Beach, Sandringham and Elsternwick, to ease people's daily commutes.

People don't have a massive expectation of what government can achieve, because they know that, ultimately, the people most responsible for the success in their lives are themselves. But where there are unnecessary bugbears, and government can come in to remove problems and challenges from their lives—particularly from things as simple as their daily commute—they hope government will do that, and that, when local representatives stand up and speak on behalf of their communities, they will hear and act. And that's what we've done. That's what we were able to deliver. That's what we were able to secure.

Ms Kearney interjecting—

No, they're already funded—those sorts of major investments in infrastructure and local communities—because we run a budget surplus. We've taken prudent responsibility for the future of the country. We understand that we have to have a balanced portfolio to make sure we put ourselves in the strongest and best position to continue to grow the economy. And that's the spirit of this motion. That's the spirit in which the member for Berowra moved it. And that's the spirit that this government is going forward with.

I wholeheartedly accept that the opposition finds this challenging. It's a foreign world to them—prudence, responsibility, investment, opportunity. It must be something they only dream about.

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