Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House how the government is delivering on its commitment to secure better days ahead for Australian families and businesses? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for his question and for his interest, like all members on this side of the House, in the economics of opportunity because, on that side, all we see are the politics of envy. When it comes to those opposite, they think the only way you can do better is if you make someone else do worse. This may be what the Leader of the Opposition thinks is a seductive pill for the Australian people, but it is a very poisonous pill for the Australian economy.

What the Australian government is doing is getting on with the job. Since we were elected last year, we have passed 126 separate pieces of legislation implementing the agenda of the Turnbull government—tax cuts for small businesses, cracking down on multinationals, ensuring that child care is more affordable, ensuring the rule of law returns to building sites around this country, that education funding at record levels is passed and that important counter-terrorism laws passing through this parliament. The Turnbull government is getting on with the job. In addition to that, there have been 17 separate pieces of budget legislation passed in the budget sittings, and that means the budget is passing this parliament despite the frustration, opposition, negativity and cynicism of the Leader of the Opposition—the most slippery customer ever to occupy that chair.

The better days ahead are already starting to be evidenced. At the beginning of this year, the Leader of the Opposition said that this year was going to be all about jobs. He asked one question about jobs back in February and today he is asking questions about marriage. His priorities are on display. On this side of the House, we are talking about jobs, national security, keeping Australians safe and ensuring that the economics of opportunity rein in the Australian economy, but nothing more than the politics of envy keeps gripping the Leader of the Opposition and taking him down a very dark and dangerous path if the Australian people were ever to trust him.

So far, 168,000 people have got a job in this country this calendar year alone since the Leader of the Opposition said this year was all about jobs. There are 168,000 new jobs in this country, which is a testimony to the economic policies of this government. Ninety-nine per cent of those jobs this calendar year are full-time jobs, too. If you go back over the last fiscal year, over 240,000 jobs were created—the single largest increase of growth in jobs in a fiscal year since before the global financial crisis. On top of that, over 177,000 jobs are out there advertised today. This government is getting on with the job. That opposition is all about envy.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Does the Treasurer consider that inequality in Australia is getting better or worse?

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

I can only quote the head of the Melbourne Institute, responsible for the HILDA data which demonstrates that it is true that household incomes have been flat in this country. That remains a very serious concern for the government and that is why the government is taking the actions that I just outlined to grow the opportunity in this economy for people to get jobs and earn more wages. You cannot boost someone's wages by reducing someone else's. That's the Leader of the Opposition's plan. He talks about redistribution of income. Australians should be very clear: what the Leader of the Opposition wants to do is redistribute the income you have earned back to the government to spend willy-nilly, as Labor governments always do.

The other thing we should bear in mind when we look at household incomes, after you take into account tax and transfers of welfare payments, is that both of these systems are progressive tax systems and a welfare system that provides a safety net is intended to protect against rising inequality. As the HILDA data definitely demonstrated and as has been observed since the global financial crisis, our tax and transfer system has protected against rising inequality. They are the facts. But the question for Australians is this: we know that household incomes are flat. So there is a question: are you going to have your income raised? Are you going to have your wages increased by the Leader of the Opposition taxing Australia out of business and taxing Australians out of jobs, or are you going to have your incomes lifted because that's what matters? If someone else's income goes down, that does not mean yours goes up. With a government focused on growing the economy, that is how people's wages increase. Those opposite simply want to let taxes rip and tax Australia out of business and tax Australians out of a job.