Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government's economic policies are creating jobs, supporting small and family-owned business and reducing the burden on families, including those in my electorate of Forde?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question. He is part of a government that is delivering the economic leadership, the confidence and the certainty that is growing the economy and creating jobs. As today's labour force data shows, the policies of my government are helping to create more jobs and better jobs. Some 16,000 jobs were added in January; 403,000 jobs were added for the year. Unemployment remains relatively low, but not low enough, at 5½ per cent. We've now delivered 16 consecutive months of jobs growth, the longest uninterrupted run of jobs growth in our history.

Sixteen months is a long time. Month after month, we are adding more jobs. It hasn't happened by luck; it's the result of policy after policy and measure after measure designed to grow and strengthen our economy. Of course, as we all know—at least on this side of the House—a strong economy is the foundation for business and for the confidence that enables firms to invest and to hire. It produces the revenue that enables governments to deliver the vital services our people demand and deserve. It enables us to put life-saving drugs on the PBS; it enables us to be able to afford that. It enables us to keep Australians safe. Nine out of 10 Australians work for private businesses, so surely it's in the interest of all of us to support the companies and firms that employ the overwhelming majority of our fellow country men and women. If we want more jobs, better jobs and jobs with higher wages then surely we want to back the businesses that are actually creating those jobs.

You'd think that the opposition would agree. After all, their leader—we won't forget this in a hurry—went to the Press Club last year and said that 2017 was going to be all about jobs, jobs, jobs. We thought we might get competing policies. We thought he might come up and say, 'Here on the opposition benches we've got some better ideas to create jobs.' He didn't even argue for one. He doesn't have one policy, one idea that would create one job or one dollar of investment. All he wants to do is raise tax on family owned businesses and on individuals and push power prices up higher with uncosted, unplanned renewable energy policies. He has no plan for growth. He has no plan for jobs. He has no plan for investment. And the man who said that last year would be the year for jobs, jobs, jobs—well, there were plenty of jobs, but they were delivered by the policies of the government he opposes.