Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australian society is a society that understands that with hard work, your goals, ambitions and aspirations are always attainable. As Liberals, we understand that hard work should always be rewarded fairly, not penalised. We understand that aspirational Australians would always rather receive a hand up instead of a hand out. And an individual should always be free to determine how they live their own life—a government should not prescribe it for them. And finally we understand that the great equaliser of our society should be equality of opportunity, not of subsidy.

These philosophical commitments that we as Liberals hold dear, are not new ones. I would like to share with the House a quote from a pamphlet in 1916 that was passed on to me by a local small business owner.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by destroying a man's initiative and independence. And finally, you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

These philosophical commitments ring as true today as they did in 1916. And it is here where we see the great philosophical divide in our nation. While the Labor Party is for the division and redistribution of wealth, we on the Liberal side are for the creation of wealth. While the Labor Party is for the creation of a cycle of dependency, we on the Liberal side are for the empowerment of all Australians.

While the oldest political trick for the Labor Party, practised extensively in this parliament, is the incitement of class hatred—pitting Australian against Australian and suburb against suburb—we on the Liberal side of politics believe that all Australians are truly aspirational. While the Labor Party attacks and penalises initiative and enterprise, we on the Liberal side of politics do everything we can to support and foster Australia's enterprising spirit.

As a nation our path to greater prosperity is greater economic growth, the restoration of sound public finances, lower taxation with less government intervention, increasing productivity and closer engagement with Asia. This is the record of the Liberal Party in this place. And it is the intention of a re-elected coalition government to once again restore hope, reward and opportunity to all Australians. As the great fore-father of the Liberal party in this country, Sir Robert Menzies understood, we are a tax reduction party and real tax reductions will always be the best of all incentives to increase effort, earning and production.

Since coming to power, this Labor government has attacked prosperity through the introduction or increasing of 26 new taxes with over 18,000 new regulations. Labor has increased our net debt to $145 billion, with an interest bill of $22 million a day. Our debt ceiling has been increased to over $300 billion. This stands in stark contrast to the previous coalition government which delivered a 20 per cent increase in real wages, a 100 per cent increase in net wealth for each Australian and more than two million new jobs. In fact, on every measure, the coalition's record on economic management stands in stark contrast to the Labor Party. When the previous coalition government left office, net debt as a percentage of GDP was 3.8 per cent in the black; today we are 9.6 per cent in the red. The net government interest on payments was a little over $1 billion in earnings. Today in 2011-12 under Labor, it is $6½ billion in payments. Our unemployment rate was 4½ per cent; today under Labor it is 5.1 per cent.

Across the course of the previous coalition government, the average annual labour productivity growth was 2½ per cent. Under this Labor government, it has averaged just 1.2 per cent. Under the previous coalition government average annual GDP growth was 3.7 per cent; under Labor it has averaged just 2.3 per cent. Under the previous coalition government, average annual growth in private business investment was a significant 8.8 per cent. Under Labor the contrast is stark at a mere 4.6 per cent.

Should the coalition be re-elected, we will once again see a government that will scrap unnecessary taxes, cut wasteful spending and reduce the tax burden on business. We will see higher productivity, job growth, sustainable development and a modern enterprise economy that eradicates barriers to opportunity and engagement. We have done it before and we can, and must, do it again.