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

I was simply congratulating the member for Ryan on his excellent first speech in the parliament yesterday, and I congratulate him on his election to this place. Our government is on the side of all of those who want to have a stronger Australia, a stronger economy, stronger national security, a more secure environment into the future, a secure region. Our government is on the side of those who always want to see Australia strengthened by the policies that are taken into this place. And we are securing a stronger economy for Australia, with 296,000 jobs created in the last 12 months, 80 per cent of which are full-time jobs. If you want to know how well an economy is going, you look at how many people are getting jobs, and our jobs growth over the last 12 months was 2.6 per cent—above the 2 per cent we even put in the budget estimate—and that shows an economy that is creating jobs.

We also have, as a result of our economic plan, an economy that is delivering comprehensive tax relief not just today, but ensuring Australians can keep more of what they earn, because we on this side of the House believe that Australians should keep more of what they earn. That shouldn't be taken away from them, nor should the decisions about how they spend their own money. We all saw the circus from the opposition when they sought to oppose our tax relief, not just now but into the future. They worked against us. They worked against the government's delivery of tax relief; a $100 billion in infrastructure investment; an energy security plan that delivers reliability and that lures more affordable energy and increased supply and a better deal for energy consumers; securing our environment plan, which means that we are meeting our emissions reductions targets—and not just meeting them but smashing them when it comes to the Kyoto 2020 targets, having inherited a massive deficit from the Labor Party not just on the fiscal books but on the emissions reduction books. We had to turn around a million tonnes in abatement over the course of our efforts, and that's what we have done. With water, soils and native vegetation management, we are listening to the farmers who are the best environmentalists in this country and backing them in on how they will manage our environment into the future.

We're protecting our national security, whether it's in our Defence forces, in the Pacific or standing up for the farmers who are being invaded—and the Leader of the Opposition's agricultural spokesperson was already speaking against the protection for those farmers earlier this morning—and we'll stand up against terrorists every single time.

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