Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the action the government is taking to lower the tax burden on households and businesses and to grow the economy, generate jobs and increase wages? Is the Prime Minister aware of any risks to the government's approach?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question.

Ms Macklin interjecting—

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

The member for Jagajaga is warned.

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

I recall the visit we made to Broome, where we met with so many small businesses, family businesses, who are already benefitting from our business tax cuts. They have more money in their pocket, which they can now invest. You get a better return on investment and you get more investment. And do you know what you get with more investment?

Government members: More jobs.

More jobs—pretty obvious. We need tax rates that encourage and incentivise businesses to hire and that reward hard work. All of our economic policies are focused on delivering this: stronger growth, more jobs and higher wages. We've reduced taxes for millions of small and medium businesses. We've extended the instant asset write-off. We've stopped more than half a million middle-income Australians from entering the second highest tax bracket. And those policies are helping to grow the economy and deliver jobs. Only the other day the Leader of the Opposition said that we were in a jobless period in the economy. It was a jobless recovery, he said. We've had more than 240,000 new jobs in the last financial year alone.

Most of us here know that the biggest handbrake on economic growth and the biggest risk to jobs and wages is higher taxes. In fact, before he started to morph into Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition was very good on this subject. He gave speech after speech saying that, if you reduce taxes, you get more investment and you get more jobs. He was right on message. He and Paul Keating and the member for McMahon were all on the same song sheet, but now of course they've jumped on the Jeremy Corbyn song sheet. He is the most left-wing leader the Labor Party have had for generations. The member for Isaacs, that dauntless advocate, that brave barrister—the man you want to have if you're in a bit of trouble—was complaining about me saying this: a journalist said, 'Who was a more left-wing Labor leader than Bill Shorten?' Vacant. 'Next,' he said—'Next question.' He couldn't think of one. The reality is that not for generations have you seen the Labor Party led by someone so determined to smash business, smash investment and undermine jobs. And when he was asked what his economic policy was for driving jobs, under a furious interrogation by the right-wing media—by Fran Kelly on Radio National—he said, 'We're all in favour of public transport.' That's about it. No plan and no jobs. (Time expired)