Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House how a strong economy helps to create jobs and enables the government to guarantee essential services, including record funding for hospitals and schools, including in my electorate of Dunkley? 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. Ninety per cent of Australians work in the private sector, and more than half of them work in small and medium Australian family-owned businesses. They are the businesses that are investing, encouraged by the reduction in company tax already legislated. They are the companies that are investing and employing. That is why, last year, we had the highest jobs growth in Australia's history. That is why we see GDP growth at 3.1 per cent. We're seeing that strong growth because the government is providing the incentive to encourage Australian businesses to invest and get ahead.

A stronger economy enables the government to have the revenues to provide record funding on health and education and to be able to agree with the states a new five-year public hospital funding deal that will add $30 billion in additional funding—$7.5 billion of which will go to Queensland, where the Labor Party is out there, once again, lying and saying that the government is cutting funding to public hospitals. Every year the funding is going up. Do you know what the greatest risk would be to public hospital funding, the greatest risk to schools and the greatest risk to having life-saving jobs? It would be a Labor government. A Labor government would not be able to manage a stronger economy. It would not be able to deliver the revenues that you need to pay for all of these things.

This is not a question of theory or speculation. We know that, in the last Labor government, so poorly were they managing the country's finances, they were reduced to the point where they couldn't put life-saving drugs on to the PBS. They couldn't do it. They were holding them back, and a heavy price was paid. What we're doing is, as those drugs are recommended, we are putting them on the list. We are putting billions of dollars more into public hospitals, into Medicare and into medical research. All of that is possible because of a stronger economy. Without a stronger economy, it is simply not able to be done—and Labor demonstrated that. A stronger economy ensures we can fund the essential services Australians deserve. (Time expired)