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

I thank the member for Chisholm for her question and congratulate her on the strong contribution she is making in this place and on behalf of her constituents, more than 70,000 of whom are getting tax cuts courtesy of the legislation that we on this side of the House supported. Thousands of small businesses across her electorate and others are also getting the benefit of the extended instant asset write-off and the tax cuts we have legislated through the parliament.

When we came to government, unemployment was rising, investment was falling and the budget was in a mess. Now we have the first current account surplus in more than 40 years, the lowest welfare dependency in more than 30 years, the biggest tax cuts in more than 20 years and the first balanced budget in 11 years. The recent economic data—

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

And these are inconvenient truths for the member for Rankin, who likes to tax a lot, but the December job numbers show that unemployment fell to 5.1 per cent. There were 29,000 new jobs. Of those aged between 15 and 64 years, 74.5 per cent were in work That was a record high. Household disposable income in the September quarter had its biggest jump in a decade. Building approvals are now up by nearly three per cent year on year. Retail trade volumes in the December quarter were higher than median market expectations and the fastest increase since 2018. Today the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer survey had consumer sentiment up by 2.3 per cent. And we know from the governor of the Reserve Bank that household balance sheets are improving. This is what he had to say recently: 'The loan arrears rate is coming down. The number of people who have problems with their personal debt is coming down, so it looks like, across a range of dimensions, balance sheets are in a better position.' He went on to say that public and business balance sheets are in good shape. That's the governor of the Reserve Bank.

On top of that, boosting household incomes, are the tax cuts. More than $6 billion in the first six months of these tax cuts have gone into the pockets of hardworking Australians. And, in relation to electricity prices, as the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction and the Prime Minister have said, wholesale prices are down by around 30 per cent on the same time last year. So we on this side of the House are getting on with our economic plan, which is delivering a record number of jobs, a record number of Australians in work and lower taxes for all Australians. It is a great contrast to the high-taxing, high-spending proposals from those opposite.

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