Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a question to the Prime Minister on that same theme. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the budget is building a stronger economy and guaranteeing the services Australians rely on, including in my electorate of Bowman? Is the Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question. Last week the honourable member and I joined many of his constituents in Cleveland to talk about the budget and to talk about the opportunities it was providing, and it was received with great enthusiasm because the honourable member's constituents there in Cleveland know how important it is to continue to deliver stronger economic growth. They know that that is what enables record funding for hospitals and schools, more medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, more affordable child care, fully funding the NDIS and ensuring our security agencies have the resources they need to keep us safe. And they know it's the foundation on which 1,013,600 jobs have been created. They know it is that stronger economy that is being enabled by our national economic plan that is enabling Australians to get on and get ahead. It's what's enabling us to provide tax relief for hardworking Australian families, starting with middle-income families and families on lower incomes and then building up over seven years a complete personal income tax plan that will ensure that 94 per cent of Australians do not pay more than 32½c in the dollar on new income. It encourages incentive, it encourages aspiration, it encourages work and it encourages enterprise, and those are the values that are driving stronger economic growth in Australia.

There is an alternative, and it is a bleak one. It's represented by the honourable members opposite. They're the ones—and the honourable member for Bowman and I saw many of their would-be victims at Cleveland. We saw all those retirees.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The honourable members opposite can shout. They are going after the savings and the income of some of our older Australians who deserve respect and support. Twenty-eight per cent of people's income is being snatched away in a $5-billion-a-year tax grab. That is what the Labor Party is planning to do, and Australians know that that is a cynical tax grab designed to undermine their prospects in retirement. They know that the extra funding for hospitals, for schools, for national security and for infrastructure depend on the strong economy Australians are building and our economic planning is enabling, and the greatest threat to that is the Labor Party and the member for opposite.

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

Before I call the Leader of the Opposition: I've asked the members for Paterson and Ballarat and I'm now asking the member for Lyons to cease interjecting. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.