Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to his statement in 2006:

If we don't lift our productivity then we can't in the long term keep downward pressure on inflation, and we won't have the guarantee that interest rates won't be rising further into the future.

Can the Treasurer confirm that productivity, measured across the whole economy, has decreased since Labor was elected in 2007? Will the Treasurer now admit his failure to increase national productivity is pushing up interest rates?