Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. At last someone in the government leadership has said why Malcolm Turnbull's no longer Prime Minister. The Deputy Prime Minister said today, 'Ambition and Newspolls and opportunity—people take those opportunities, and we've got a new Prime Minister.' Does the Prime Minister agree with the Deputy Prime Minister's explanation of why Malcolm Turnbull lost his job—that it was ambition, Newspolls and opportunity?

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

Ambition, Newspolls and opportunity—the Leader of the Opposition knows all about that. That's what he's been doing as the leader of the Labor Party for the last five years. What do we know about the leader of the Labor Party? It's all about opportunism, it's all about politics and it's all about coming in here and the games that are played, which the Australian people are absolutely sick and tired of. My colleagues have elected me to be the leader of the Liberal Party and to lead this government—our government—because they believe in an even stronger Australia. They believe in a stronger Australia where we keep our economy strong and where we continue to see the engine of jobs growth to perform in this country, as we've just seen today with the release of the latest employment figures, which again show over 40,000 jobs being created.

Our plans for a stronger economy are working, and that means that we can deliver the essential services that Australians rely on. They are being delivered because, as we know, you cannot deliver the essential services that Australians rely on unless you know how to drive a strong economy, and that is something the Liberal and National Parties have been doing since we were first elected in 2013. We have seen over 1.1 million jobs created on our watch because we know how to back business, we know how to get people's taxes down and we know how to achieve cheaper electricity prices by ensuring we get the right settings in place to bring those prices down and to keep the gas onshore where it needs to be. We can deliver the type of environment where Australians want to invest. Around the world, they want to invest in Australia as well. Keeping the economy strong, keeping Australians safe and keeping Australians together—that's our plan for an even stronger Australia, and it's a plan that's working.