Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

When we left office, the Australian economy was strong. It was the envy of the world and it was definitely the envy of the OECD nations. There was record employment data—our unemployment figures started with a '3'; record low interest rates; and the highest female participation rate in the workforce ever in history. Our economy undoubtedly was strong. Remember during the COVID period when the unemployment queues snaked around the corner? People were losing their houses. People were losing their jobs. Their businesses were under threat. We put together the JobKeeper program, and every time we asked for money we brought it to the House, and those on the other side supported the spending. In fact, when we went to stop JobKeeper—and I highlight this for the people in the gallery, because on the other side you will continually hear the rhetoric that we left $1 trillion worth of debt—those on the other side said that the economy was going to fall off a cliff, and they wanted to keep spending. It was just as well we shut it off when we did. This week in the budget we saw what Labor's true plan is. Their true plan is higher electricity costs, higher interest rates, higher fuel costs. When Labor are in office and they run out of their own money, be absolutely sure they'll come looking for yours and they'll do it by way of higher taxes. Just you wait and see.

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