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

So we'll go through and highlight the absurdity of many of the claims that are made by opposition members in this chamber and the programs that they sought to implement. Some members have talked about the tragic human consequences—I couldn't agree more—that occurred on the basis of reckless, reckless policy. For members opposite to come into this chamber and lecture members of the government, who have delivered year-on-year economic growth, sustained economic growth, and, against the backdrop of the drought and the fires, have continued to deliver strong economic growth, is outrageous. The reality is that in the last quarter of last year, despite the headwinds of the droughts and the fires, we have been able to continue to deliver.

Let's not pretend otherwise. We are facing very difficult economic circumstances. As the assistant minister said at the dispatch box before, we know that a health crisis is turning into a significant economic challenge for the Australian people. It is because we are exposed as an economy to many of the countries that are directly affected by the coronavirus. It is going to affect our supply chains. We face the very real challenge where many businesses have willing customers but not the stock, where service based businesses want to sell but are reliant on things like tourism and struggle to be able to get customers. These are the challenges that we're responding to.

The question for us is: what choice was before the Australian people at the last election? They made a choice about the type of prudent and responsible government they wanted, one that could come into this chamber and pass a budget which cut taxes and empowered Australians to continue to support the economy, for small businesses who invest to be able to build the future of this country. Or the alternative, of $387 billion worth of new taxes that was proposed by the opposition. They made a choice because they knew what drove the fundamentals of the Australian economy and put us in the position to respond to exactly these types of crises, to make sure that we're in the position so that we can respond in a targeted way to keep jobs and businesses open to grow this nation— (Time expired)

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