Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the news reported in recent economic data releases? How does this data point to better days ahead for all Australians and for the constituents in my electorate of Brisbane?

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

I thank the member for Brisbane for bringing attention to matters of the economy and people's jobs—the things Australians are concerned about. I'm very pleased to report both to the parliament and to the member for Brisbane—as an economist himself and as the member for Brisbane concerned about jobs in his own electorate—that there is further good news about the economy, which has been released in the economic data even as of today. Over 181,000 job advertisements were recorded in August—more jobs. That is the highest level in over 6½ years in the number of job advertisements out there today. We know that in the last fiscal year over 240,000 jobs were created. The last six months to the end of July was the strongest six-months jobs growth in full-time employment in almost 40 years. More jobs is what the positive economic data is revealing. But today I can say also that, in figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the amount of wages and salaries earned by Australians in the June quarter rose by 1.2 per cent—1.2 per cent in just one quarter—and that is the fastest pace of increase since late 2013. So there are more wages as well as more jobs—more money in the pockets of Australians, because more Australians are getting more work.

But there's also been more investment. Last week's capital expenditure survey showed that non-mining related capex rose 2.6 per cent in the June quarter, and the estimates for 2017-18 are up five per cent. That is an increase in non-mining investment in our economy, and it comes on the back of the strong pro-investment, pro-growth, pro-job policies of the Turnbull government. We also see surveys of manufacturing activity showing the highest level of rises in manufacturing activity from that survey in 15 years. On top of that, we have business conditions, as surveyed in the business community, at their highest levels in almost a decade.

And so what we have is the national economic plan that is driving jobs in this country, producing those jobs and producing that growth. We have a Turnbull government that's focused on the economics of opportunity, not the politics of envy, by the most left-wing Labor Party leader we've seen in generations whose only policy, he believes, to encourage growth in this country is to tax it into oblivion.