Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on your appointment. My question is to the Assistant Treasurer. Will the Assistant Treasurer update the House on the government's action to strengthen the economy? Are there risks to growth and creating new jobs that the government is determined to counter?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bendigo has been warned twice.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question and acknowledge his deep commitment to good economic policy in this place. The Australian economy is in the 25th consecutive year of economic growth. The March quarter GDP number of 0.9 per cent is one of the fastest in the developed world. Business confidence is at a two-year high. In the last 12 months we have seen job advertisements in 10 of those months increase. More than 330,000 new jobs have been created. We are seeing strong development in the building sector; export volumes are up; and retail sales are strong. We will continue on the path of good economic reform and in this year's well received budget we reduced the tax rates for small business to be among the lowest in the last four decades. Our three free trade agreements with Japan, Korea and China will enable Australia to link into the burgeoning middle class in our region. Our more than $2 billion worth of red tape reductions will actually help businesses grow by getting government out of the way.

I am asked: are there any risks to this approach? Well, the greatest risk comes from the Leader of the Opposition and those opposite. The Leader of the Opposition wants to re-introduce a carbon tax. He opposes a free trade agreement with our biggest trading partner; he opposes the re-instatement of the Australian Building and Construction Commission; and he has more than a $50 billion black hole. The Leader of the Opposition believes that with these bad economic policies he can still deliver a budget surplus—a bit like the budget surplus he announced to constituents in Maribyrnong with this press release in 2012, where he said:

We have brought the budget back to surplus on time, as promised…

That is, despite an $18.8 billion deficit. You can still find this press release on his website.

The Leader of the Opposition wants to trick the Australian people into thinking he has a credible economic plan. We know he has a way with words and so he told the ABC news:

The trick with magicians is to make you look at the trick they're doing and not look at the real thing which they are pulling off away from what people are watching.

We know that the Leader of the Opposition is the David Copperfield of Australian politics because he made two prime ministers disappear, but the coalition—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

will continue to grow the economy, create jobs and we will not let Labor get away with their old tricks.