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

What a demonstration of not being on Team Australia that we have just seen in this chamber—disgraceful! The Treasurer this week was quoting from Sir Robert Menzies—and, I can tell you, I've been reminded of this quote. It was Sir Robert Menzies on the eve of the 1954 election against 'Doc' Evatt. He said:

Our opponents have been destructive critics. They have politically welcomed every difficulty. They have prophesied, and hoped for, disaster.

  …   …   …

… bitterly frustrated by the failure of their past prophecies, they are struggling to raise false issues and new prejudices, and to make glittering promises to distract attention from real and solid achievements.

What are those achievements today? Australia's COVID-19 response is the envy of the world. It didn't happen by accident—and, most importantly, we thank every Australian for the part that they played in responding to this crisis. We can be proud together as Australians to share in the Australian response.

The economies of the United Kingdom, France and Italy all contracted by more than eight per cent and Japan and Canada around five per cent. Programs like JobKeeper and JobSeeker kept workers engaged in businesses, kept households afloat and kept businesses going. The result has been that the Australian economy has contracted by just 2.5 per cent. JobKeeper kept 3.8 million people in their job. JobSeeker helped 1.5 million people who were without work. Since the end of JobKeeper, 132,790 Australians have come off JobSeeker and youth allowance.

At the start of COVID, the effective unemployment rate peaked at 15 per cent. There are more Australians in work today than before COVID. At 5.5 per cent, unemployment is lower today than when we came to government. Female workforce participation is now near a record 61.3 per cent above pre-COVID levels. Business conditions are at some of the highest levels ever. According to the NAB index, consumer confidence is the highest it has been in a decade. In these uncertain times, Australia has maintained our AAA credit rating—one of only nine countries in the world to do so. On the health front, 3.8 million vaccine doses have been given here in Australia—and it continues, with over half a million doses of the vaccine given in the last week alone. Globally, sadly, 3.3 million people have lost their lives to COVID-19, and right now we see 700,000 to 800,000 people every day contract COVID. Here in Australia, sadly, just over 900 people have lost their lives. But if we experienced the OECD average of deaths, if we compared ourselves to like economies, to those like democracies, that same rate of death would have resulted in 30,000 Australians dying.

Yet those opposite want to talk about the government's failures. I don't know why you'd want to talk Australia down when our economy and health response is the envy of the world. It is something that Australians should be and can be proud of. The destructive talking down of the Australian response to COVID-19 is irresponsible. The Leader of the Opposition said that the roof of the economy would come crashing down. But what have we seen? We have seen 33,800 full-time jobs created, underemployment at its lowest level in seven years and youth unemployment falling to its lowest level in 12 years.

Our budget is rebuilding the economy. We're providing tax relief for 10 million Australians. Low- and middle-income earners will get up to $1,080 for individuals and $2,160 for couples. We're doubling the JobTrainer Fund to support 163,000 new training places, and we're funding more than 170,000 apprenticeships and traineeships. We're adding another $15 billion to our $110 billion infrastructure pipeline, and we're making an additional $1.7 billion investment in child care.

We're backing Australian small businesses—98 per cent of all businesses in this country are small businesses. The instant asset write-off threshold and the temporary full expensing and temporary loss carry-back measures will make a big difference to those businesses who want to invest and grow their businesses and to employ more Australians. We're seeing it working, and that's why it's continuing. We've passed legislation to bring forward tax cuts for small and medium businesses. The corporate tax rate will now hit 25 per cent in 2021-22, five years sooner than planned. We've also increased the small business entity turnover from $10 million to $50 million for 10 small business tax concessions. That represents $105 million worth of tax relief for those small businesses and a very important deregulation measure that this government backs. See, the government wants to set up Australia for success, and we do that by supporting small and family businesses to deliver on that success.

Getting Australians into homes through HomeBuilder has seen 137,000-plus starts to detached homes across Australia. That's an increase of 34.2 per cent on last year, and it's higher than the peak that we had seen in the previous boom in 2018. That keeps tradies in jobs. That puts people in homes. This is a key program that has assisted Australia's economic recovery and makes a huge difference to those people who deliver the program and those people who benefit from the program by owning their own home, an essential part of the Australian dream.

Australia is playing its part on climate change. We have met our 2020 commitments, and we are on track to meet and beat our 2030 target. Australia's emissions are 19 per cent lower than in 2005 and at their lowest level since 1995. Australia is on the pathway to net zero, and our goal is to get there as soon as we possibly can, preferably before 2050. We will do this practically, with a technology-focused approach. We'll use technology, not taxes. We've got the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world. We are supporting major energy storage solutions like Snowy 2.0 and Battery of the Nation. In this budget, we're investing a further $1.6 billion to fund priority technologies, including clean hydrogen and energy storage.

We'll provide funding to protect our environment—$480 million, including $100 million for our oceans. We will invest that $100 million through our Ocean Leadership Package. It will deliver cleaner beaches, reduce fisheries bycatch, increase fish stocks, protect turtles and sea birds, and support coastal and Indigenous communities who are reliant on the ocean for their livelihoods. I'm pleased that we're establishing two more Australian marine parks, covering 740,000 square kilometres around the waters of Christmas and Cocos Islands. That will lift our percentage of waters protected from 37 to 45 per cent.

This government is about putting in place a plan that allows Australians to steer their own ship, to get their home, to employ more Australians, to ensure that we put Australia on the track that secures our economic recovery. Those opposite like to complain. They like to talk Australia down. They like to talk Australians down. They like to undermine the success of all Australians in relation to our COVID economic and health response.

No wonder Australians are confused about the Labor Party. I tell you what—when a group of people do well, you say, 'Well done.' What does this group opposite do? They whinge and they complain, because, you know what? This is a group of people that can't even manage themselves; they're tearing themselves apart. They don't know who they're for and who they're against. In fact, the Prime Minister has reminded us that they're for everybody. This group of people have lost their way, and yet they sit opposite the government and lecture this government in relation to our COVID health and economic response.

In relation to Labor's failure, their own Leader of the Opposition spent $9 million helping to set up Community Chef, a local government-run supplier of meals for the aged-care sector, which estimates have shown have cost the taxpayer $30 million. That's failure!

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