Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline the importance of building a strong and prosperous economy for all Australians?

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

I thank the honourable member for Forrest for her question. I know that when she engages with her local community—because I have been there—so much of the focus is about jobs, about prosperity and about how we can have a better quality of life and even leave a better quality of life to our children or grandchildren, as the case might be. And we can do that through jobs, growth and opportunity. Since coming to government we have worked away at those three key beacons that are going to help to drive the future of Australia.

Jobs: since we have come to government, an average of 600 jobs a day has been created, as compared with 200 jobs a day under Labor. And jobs also come about by removing the shackles on business. We got rid of the mining tax—the great moment of pride for the member for Lilley, who I see is actually still here. The mining tax, which he saw as a great success story, was a handbrake on mining investment.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left, particularly from the member for Rankin.

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

We got rid of the mining tax and we got rid of the carbon tax, which was a burden not just on business but on every household to the tune of $550 a year. And we got rid of the red tape on business, getting rid of $2 billion of red tape burden, particularly on small business. Seventeen thousand pages of regulation and red tape we got rid of in our first year of government, and that is just jobs.

Ms Butler interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Griffith will cease.

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

How do you boost growth? Well, one of the signature policies that we delivered in the last budget was, in fact, the biggest infrastructure program in Australia's history. We announced the equivalent of eight new Snowy Mountains schemes to be built over the next decade—projects such as WestConnex in Sydney, the Gateway Motorway project in Brisbane and the North-South Corridor in Adelaide. We have committed to those projects, and we committed to the East West project in Melbourne, which has now been ripped up by a Labor government, along with the Labor Party ripping up 7,000 jobs. How proud they are. How proud the Labor Party are not only to see 600 people sacked in Melbourne because of that project not going ahead but that they have stopped the creation of 7,000 new jobs. Shame, Labor, shame.

Of course, it is about opportunity. Where is the opportunity for Australia's growth and prosperity going to come from in the future? That is one of the reasons why we have signed three new trade agreements with some of our biggest trading partners. That opens the door to small business, opens the door to jobs and opens the door of opportunity for everyday Australians. We are getting on with the job of governing the country in the best interests of the Australian people.