Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer advise the House of recent economic data which highlights how the government is continuing to make the right choices to secure better days ahead for our economy? How does this compare with alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for Berowra for his question, and for all he is doing, along with all other members on this side of the House, to make sure we continue to make these right choices to secure the better days ahead that we spoke of in the budget this year, and which continue to reveal themselves in the economic evidence as it is being presented.

Unemployment is now down to 5.4 per cent, the lowest level in 4½ years, lower than it was when we came to government back in 2013. We've had 172,000 jobs advertised. That is the highest level of job advertisements on the ANZ survey in six years. We have had 296,000 jobs created in the first 10 months of this year. That is the strongest job creation performance in 40 years. That is the strongest on record of the labour force survey, and four out of five of those are full-time jobs. On top of that, we've now started to see some movement in wages and earnings: an increase of 2½ per cent, with 13 out of the 17 sectors of our economy experiencing a growth in the level of wages and earnings.

On business conditions, they are the strongest survey conditions we've seen—four times the long-run average—in 20 years. We have seen the longest run of consecutive monthly positive trade surpluses in 40 years. On top of that, we've got non-mining investment up to now well over two per cent in capital expenditure. That is the strongest figure we've seen in five years and evidence of the fact that this government's actions to drive investment in our economy and to drive growth are having the desired effect. On private investment, we've had three quarters of positive growth, which follow 12 quarters prior to that of negative growth. On the working-age population, as the Minister for Social Services will tell you, we have now fallen to the lowest rate of welfare dependency in this country in 25 years. Do you know why that is? It is because Australians are getting jobs. Under the Turnbull government that's what's happening.

We're making the right decisions by lowering taxes. We're making the right decisions by opening trade. We're making the right decisions by investing in infrastructure, like the $100 million in Bennelong for the transport interchange. The threated posed by the Labor Party is that it will put that at all at risk through $164 billion, as costed by Treasury, of higher taxes on the Australian economy, suffocating the Australian economy. If the Labor Party are thinking up ideas on that sort of reckless damage in opposition, imagine if he were Prime Minister what this Labor leader would do to the economy if he had the chance.