Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Hansard source

When I saw this matter of public importance from the member for Rankin, I thought he couldn't be serious. But, then again, they're not serious people. They are in fact quite irresponsible, talking down the economy at a time when Australians need us to talk it up, to talk about the facts, to talk about the fact that Australia has entered its 29th consecutive year of annual economic growth and continues to show resilience.

This morning, the Treasurer released the December quarter national accounts. Australia recorded its third consecutive current account surplus in the December quarter 2019, the longest consecutive period of current account surpluses since the 1970s. Given I was born in 1981, that is a long period of time for sure. Let me go through some of the facts. Let me go through some of the facts that are really inconvenient to those members opposite, particularly the member for Rankin.

Today's data shows that our economy was accelerating at the end of last year, growing 0.5 per cent in the quarter. Through the year, growth picked up from 1.8 per cent to 2.2 per cent. We're growing faster than the OECD average and faster than any G7 economy except for the United States. But jobs are important, and this is a government that is committed to jobs for Australians. In compensation of employees, the nation's wages rose 5.1 per cent over the year, one of the strongest results in 7½ years and above the decade average. The average compensation per employee grew three per cent, the strongest result in over five years and, again, above the decade average. In 2019—

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