Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I will take responsibility for Australia's economic performance since I've been Prime Minister and since the Treasurer has occupied the Treasury benches. I'll take responsibility for the fact that Australia has faster economic growth than Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK. I'll take responsibility for the fact that Australia has a lower unemployment rate than the G7 countries Canada, France and Italy and the same as the United States. I'll take responsibility for the fact that we have faster economic growth than Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the UK—that is all seven G7 countries—and that Australia has a higher participation rate than Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. And I'll also take responsibility for the fact that we, unlike every single G7 nation, have produced budget surpluses. All of them are in deficit, as we go forward.

I will also take responsibility for the fact that we have delivered a tax cut for every taxpayer, and those opposite said that we should take that to an election. I'll take responsibility for the fact that, next week, we might find ourselves being in a position of having one million jobs created on our watch since we came into government. I'll take responsibility for the fact that we have put in place cost-of-living measures, including our power rebates for every household—not one lot of it but two—both of them opposed by those opposite.

I'll take responsibility for the fact that, if you're a pensioner, you can get cheaper medicines as a direct result of the policies that we've put in place. I'll take responsibility for the fact that over half a million Australians have benefited from fee-free TAFE and that 1.2 million Australian families have benefited from cheaper child care. That's what I'll take responsibility for.

The fact is that, at a time when there is global inflation and many countries have gone into recession, we have kept Australia in the black, that we have kept our economy growing, that we have kept jobs being created, that wages are rising and that we want people to earn more and keep more of what they earn—the precise opposite of what those opposite want.

See this speech in context