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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given that the Prime Minister had to explain to US President Donald Trump why Malcolm Turnbull is no longer Prime Minister and that German Chancellor Angela Merkel wasn't even sure who he was, will he now explain to the Australian people and the wider world why Malcolm Turnbull is no longer Prime Minister of Australia?

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

I can assure the Leader of the Labor Party that everybody on this side of the House is going to work incredibly hard from this day to the next election to ensure the rest of the world never knows who the Leader of the Labor Party is. If they were to find out who the Leader of the Labor Party is if he were to become Prime Minister, I know this would happen: the Australian economy would be weaker, there'd be fewer jobs and there'd be higher taxes. One of those higher taxes would be the higher tax on Australians investing in their own homes, investing in housing for their own future: police officers, nurses, teachers and others who go about the process, small-business owners putting their money aside, investing in investment property to provide for their future. The greatest threat to Australians who work hard and who save is the Leader of the Labor Party, the shadow Treasurer and Labor's plan for higher taxes.

I notice today in the CoreLogic report that they have observed that a negative gearing rollback looking to exclude established dwellings could diminish demand across the resale market, with less investment demand for properties with lower rental yields; and the halving of capital gains tax concessions would likely provide further disincentive to investment. Do you know what that means? The value of people's homes would go down and their rents would go up. That is the policy of the Labor Party.

If the rest of the world got to know who the Leader of the Labor Party is, he wouldn't be able to go to the G20, as I just did, and talk about the strong-performing Australian economy, as I particularly did in relation to the strong performance of the Australian economy supporting Australian women. At the G20 we could talk about how we have the highest record of female workforce participation in Australia's history, at over 60 per cent, with the gender pay gap falling to 14½ per cent, which is one of the lowest levels that we've ever seen in this country, and four percentage points lower than the average around the rest of the world. So I could talk to the G20 about how Australia's economy was the envy of the world, growing strongly, with unemployment coming down, investment driving the country forward, and a government committed to freeing up trade and engaging with the rest of the world. I was particularly pleased to be able to say, when I met with President Trump, that Australia would be meeting our commitment to two per cent of GDP on defence spending. Not only is that meeting our commitments and keeping Australians safe; that is providing thousands upon thousands of jobs for Australians all around the rest of the country.

Under this government, we've got a great story to tell about the economy. Under a Labor government, the story goes very pear shaped.