Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on actions the government is taking to ease the burden on families, to grow the economy and to create more jobs for Australians, including in my electorate of Robertson? How does this compare with alternative approaches?

Ms Macklin interjecting—

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

The member for Jagajaga will cease interjecting.

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

I thank the honourable member for her question. As she knows, and as we discussed with her constituents only very recently, we are taking one step after another to ensure that Australians have more money in their pockets and that hardworking Australian families have more opportunities to get ahead.

Take health: unprecedentedly, we have guaranteed Medicare—absolutely set out to do that. Labor ran the big lie. Kristina Keneally is still trying to run it in Bennelong. We've provided a rock-solid guarantee for Medicare. We're ensuring that funding is allocated transparently, consistently and assuredly every year. GP bulk-billing is at record levels, over 85 per cent last year. We've added a record number of life-saving medicines to the PBS, more than 1,500—

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

The honourable member's party didn't do that when they were in government. More than 1,500—an investment of $7.5 billion. We're ensuring that all Australians have access to the affordable care and to the affordable medicines they need.

Our school funding reforms—the biggest and most comprehensive ever undertaken by a Commonwealth government—deliver genuine needs-based funding that is national, consistent and transparent for the first time. We don't just talk about needs based funding, like those opposite do. We have delivered it. That's the difference. We are making child care more affordable and providing the highest level of support to the families that need it most. Our National Energy Guarantee will deliver cheaper power bills and keep the lights on. You don't have to take our word for it. Look at the modelling from the Energy Security Board. You can see there the confirmation that this is the policy that brings together affordability, reliability and the ability to reduce our emissions into one market instrument. We've taken action, of course, to cut power bills in the here and now: on gas, on electricity and on the operators of the poles and wires. When it comes to taxes, we're ensuring Australian businesses remain competitive. The honourable member and I visited a family business in her electorate that is benefitting from the cuts to company tax and, with the growth that comes from our big free trade deals, is able to grow more, invest more and employ more. Lower taxes enable businesses to invest and do more.

These and many other measures together are what is delivering the growth we have today. Nearly a thousand jobs a day for the last year have been created, and 85 per cent of them are full-time. That's the commitment. Jobs and growth: not just a slogan, now an outcome. (Time expired)