Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government's policies are helping to grow the economy, generate jobs and increase wages? Are there any threats to the government's approach, including in my electorate of Bonner?

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

The member for Bonner will resume his seat. The Prime Minister will resume his seat. I have said countless times that I am really going to crack down on interjections, particularly when the question is being asked. The member for Sydney is warned. The member for Bonner will ask the question again.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government's policies are helping to grow the economy, generate jobs and increase wages? Are there any threats to the government's approach, including in my electorate of Bonner?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. The government is backing the businesses that employ nearly 90 per cent of all Australians. We know that Australian businesses need the encouragement to invest more and employ more. And that is why we are backing in our business tax cuts. We know they will deliver the growth and the jobs in the honourable member's electorate and in every member's electorate. That is the big difference: we are backing jobs; we are backing workers. The Leader of the Opposition is opposing business and selling workers out, just as he did when he was representing them. We are talking one deal after another—one dodgy deal after another. He likes to talk about penalty rates.

Ms Husar interjecting—

Ms Keay interjecting—

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

The member for Lindsay is warned, as is the member for Braddon.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He sold workers' penalty rates out again and again—remarkably, again and again in circumstances where the union was paid money by the employer concerned. We have talked about Cleanevent and Chiquita Mushrooms. But, right across the board, let's look at the agreements that the Labor Party want to defend. They believe it is just that a worker at KFC on Sunday gets paid $21 an hour, but, at the award, gets paid $29. That is the deal they did.

Again and again, he claims to be in favour of renewables. What has he done? He has sold out Australians in terms of energy security. What are we doing? We are ensuring that we have Snowy Hydro 2.0, the plan that will provide the greatest storage and backup ever developed in our nation that will make renewables reliable.

What about the importance of gas supply? We have seen to date the results of our work. We called the gas producers in. We told them that they had to deliver for Australian businesses and families. We got a commitment, a guarantee of gas for peaking power being made available. Today you have seen Origin commit to providing the gas that is needed to get the Pelican Point generator going again, the one that was not working when South Australia had its blackout event.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

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

The Minister for Energy and the Environment is warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are delivering. We are delivering on renewables, we are delivering on energy, we are delivering on jobs and we are defending Australian working men and women by ensuring that businesses that employ them and will employ them have the incentive to invest. Labor says it is in favour of workers and sells them out. It says it is in favour of renewable energy and does not do anything to support it. (Time expired)

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

The prime Minister's time has concluded. The member for Gorton.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you hungover?

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

The member for Gorton will resume his seat. I am going to the next question. The member for Tangney has the call.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the government's success in delivering on the commitments it outlined in last year's budget. Is he aware of any alternative plans that would threaten the successful transition of Australia's economy?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Tangney for his question. He knows, because he was elected on the basis of our national economic plan for jobs and growth that were set out in last year's budget, that our economy, the Australian economy is one of the fastest growing advanced economies in the world today. We have the second-highest GDP per capita of any country in the G20, second only to the United States. Our national economic plan made the decision and made the calls which address the challenges of ensuring that we are improving the wage performance of Australians—lifting their wages, supporting wages growth, increasing investment and securing jobs for hardworking Australians. This is across a raft of areas.

The National Innovation and Science Agenda has delivered new tax incentives for start-up businesses. It has delivered new funding to support the CSIRO to work with companies to take innovations and research into the marketplace. The biomedical translation fund is doing the same thing to commercialise medical research.

We are ramping up the 20-year defence industry plan that is creating new businesses and new jobs right across the defence industry supply chain right across the nation, in stark contrast to the Labor Party that never even built a bath tub boat let alone engage in the important issue of developing our defence industries, particularly our naval shipbuilding plan.

Our $50 billion infrastructure plan is being rolled out across the country including the Monash Freeway in Melbourne, the WestConnex in Sydney, the Bruce Highway in Queensland, the Northern Connector in Adelaide, the Forrestfield-Airport Link in Perth and the Midfield Highway in Tasmania.

Our export trade deals are another critical part of the national economic plan with China, with Japan and with South Korea and they are ensuring new jobs and new markets, particularly in our agricultural sector, which saw one of the most amazing periods of growth in the December quarter of last year and is lifting living standards in rural and regional Australia. During Premier Li's visit, we announced better outcomes for Australian beef and exports to China, which backed up the arrangements we were able to achieve with Indonesia just weeks before.

And we are changing our tax system to boost new investment that creates and supports jobs, that increases real wages starting with tax cuts and incentives for small and medium-sized businesses. And we are delivering on budget repair. Almost $25 billion in budget improvement measures have been delivered since the last election, since the last budget, which are getting on with the job of budget repair. These achievements of implementing the national economic plan for jobs and growth was what was at the heart of last year's budget and will be at the heart of this year's budget.