James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer inform the House how the Morrison government's certain and stable approach to the economy is creating jobs for hardworking families across Australia, including in my electorate of Sturt? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Sturt for his question. He knows that more than 79,000 taxpayers in his electorate will get a tax cut as a result of the legislation that this side of the House supported. Around 30,000 will get the full $1,080 in the electorate of Sturt.

We on this side of the House see it as our job to help create more jobs, and we have seen more than 1.4 million new jobs created on our watch. We now have a record number of Australians in work. We have a participation rate which is at a record high, and we have a gender pay gap which is at a record low, having closed by $1,100 since you were last in office—

Opposition members interjecting —

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

The Treasurer will just pause for a second. Members on my left will cease shrieking, particularly the member for Rankin. I've got to remind him that he has the matter of public importance this afternoon—so far. The Treasurer has the call.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Employment growth is 2.6 per cent today. When Labor was last in office it was 0.7 per cent—less than a third. Over the last 12 months, more than 320,000 new jobs have been created, eight out of 10 of which have been full time. In the month of July, we saw more than 41,000 new jobs created. Unemployment today is 5.2 per cent, and when we came to government it was 5.7 per cent.

I'm asked: are there any alternative approaches? We know that those opposite have $387 billion of higher taxes, which will cost jobs across the economy. All of this is from a party that Paul Keating says:

… has lost the ability to speak aspirationally to people and to fashion policies to meet those aspirations.

Today when you open the paper, on the front page you see the Labor Party ripping themselves apart. On one side of the fence, you've got 'Chairman Wayne' and his acolyte, the member for Rankin. On the other side, you've got the member for Grayndler and his campaign director, the member for Hindmarsh. Who is going to win this tug of war over Labor's taxes? I'll tell you who won't win: the Australian people, because they know that Labor wants to tax a lot and Labor wants to spend a lot. The Labor Party is always the party of higher taxes, and the coalition is always the party of more jobs and lower taxes.