Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to stand here tonight and take this opportunity to espouse the strength of our economy and the way that the Turnbull government, the Liberal Party and our National Party colleagues are driving growth through economic reform. As evidence of this are some of the indicators that are hitting the market at the moment. In recent weeks and months we have seen evidence of yet more jobs—240,000 jobs created this year under this government—along with more investment, more wages and more exports.

Mr Speaker, you would remember during the last campaign that the Australian public probably tired of hearing members on this side of the House profess 'jobs and growth', 'jobs and growth'. It wasn't a complicated slogan; in fact, it was quite appropriate. We have created 240,000 jobs through investment on the back of a downward spiralling economy, as we come off the resources sector. Real growth in our economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the June quarter, more than double the pace of 0.3 per cent in the March quarter. Growth is important for us. Dr Philip Lowe, the Reserve Bank governor, is forecasting that growth will trend upwards into the threes—we are currently in the late twos—that is, growth of three per cent. But it's not Australia that's experiencing rising growth; it's an international phenomenon. As the economies of our trading partners—China, Europe, America—strengthen, they will help us build our growth rates as well.

Nominal GDP grew, as forecast, by six per cent in the 2016-17 period. Household consumption, the largest contributor to growth in the year, increased by 0.7 per cent in the quarter to be 2.6 per cent higher than 12 months ago. That's a significant increase—that's 2.6 per cent stronger than this time last year. Those growth rates do not materialise purely by accident. They come about through strong fiscal settings that this government has put in place. I commend the Turnbull government, the Treasurer, and associated portfolios—trade and investment through our free trade agreements—for ensuring that our fiscal settings are strong, to set us into the future.

This is in line with the government's record $75 billion investment in economic infrastructure. Of that 75 billion, two-thirds will be provided to the states. The great state of Queensland has been the beneficiary of some of that funding—in particular, for the Bruce Highway and, closer to my electorate, the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, which is Australia's single largest inland road infrastructure project in modern history. Money will also be invested in railways, water projects and other projects.

I will touch on our trade capabilities: capital imports rose more than 25 per cent over the past year, the strongest annual growth since around the peak of the mining investment boom five years ago, and that is further evidence of the improvement of private investment including the non-mining sector. The strength of rural and services exports have been supported by the government's trade agenda, duly headed up by the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, who has done an outstanding job in that space. In year average terms, the rural and services sectors drove growth in the economy in 2016-17, contributing no less than 0.5 percentage points and 1.8 points respectively. This performance was particularly welcome in my electorate, which is starting to see more of the rewards of their hard work.

In my electorate, the Lockyer Valley and the Fassifern Valley are rated among the world's top 10 fertile valleys. Farmers there grow carrots, onions, lettuce, celery, broccoli and all the brassica family. Some of the growers have water and some have additional capacity to put in extra crop. They are very conscious about oversupplying, because they know that if one grower puts in too much it can crash a market. They can increase their net outputs by 30 per cent, and they're starting to do that by tapping into the wonderful trade opportunities from the free trade agreements that have been negotiated by this government.

The 240,000 jobs for the year show the strongest growth since before the GFC, with 100,000 jobs in the June quarter alone. Just think about that, Mr Speaker. We spoke about jobs and growth in the last election campaign; we are putting our money where our mouth is. We are making sure that we are driving the economy—and the Turnbull government needs to be applauded for the way we are driving the economy.