Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, 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 plan for a stronger economy is working to create more jobs and more opportunities for Australians and how this is reflected in the most recent national account figures? Is the Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for North Sydney for his question. Last year's national account showed that Australia remained at the top of the leaderboard when it came to economic growth around the world. In the terms of the G7 economies, the OECD—

Mr Bowen interjecting—

I hear the interjection from the member for McMahon: 'We're not in the G7.' We all know that. But isn't it a good thing, the member for McMahon, that Australia's growth rate is greater than all of the world's largest developed economies? I haven't heard the member for McMahon say that growth is a good thing lately, particularly when it comes. I haven't heard him say that, because our economy is strong and our government's policies are continuing to ensure that it remains strong. That growth was better than the budget forecast that we handed down just in May of this year. It's better than the estimates that were predicted by the markets. It shows, in its detail, that the big winners out of this growth have been the jobs that have been created. The record jobs growth that we've been seeing in this country under the economic stewardship of the policy of the Liberal and the Nationals parties is putting people into work.

We're going to keep our economy strong not just because it gives people jobs—and when you have a job you have choices in life—but because it ensures that the economy that we are generating can pay for the things that really matter. It means that it can pay for hospitals. It can pay for lifesaving, affordable medicines for cystic fibrosis like Spinraza for those children who had no prospect of a long life and now have the opportunity for that. It can pay for education. It can pay for Medicare. It can pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Our policies are all designed to give a fair go to those who want to have a go. They're not designed to bring others down to try and raise others up. We reject the politics of envy when it comes to economic policy and any other type of policy. We believe in those things; that's why we're for lower taxes. We believe Australians should be able to keep more of what they own. Labor want to increase their taxes—all of their taxes. They want to put taxes up, if they're given that opportunity. It's why we back small business and why we've delivered the single largest boost to small business in taxation arrangements seen in generations. And there'll be more to come because we believe in small business. The Labor Party wants to increase the taxes on every small business in this country, and if elected they will. That's why we're for cheaper electricity prices and cheaper gas prices and putting in place the policies which achieve that. That's why we're for congestion-busting infrastructure in our cities. That's why we're for infrastructure that connects our rural areas to our ports and markets. That's why we're for expanding our markets with free trade agreements like the one we are moving forward on in Indonesia, which I was able to bring to that point just the weekend before last. We are a government investing in growth and delivering on growth, and that guarantees the essential services that Australians relies on.