Lucy Wicks (Robertson, 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 the Morrison government's stable and certain plan is addressing the challenges facing our nation? Is the Prime Minister aware of how different approaches would weaken our ability to meet these challenges?

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

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. At the last election, Australians wanted to be able to plan for their future with confidence in what they knew would be uncertain times globally and, at times, domestically, when there would be many pressures on Australia, no less than the drought but also the many other pressures faced by families around the country. So they elected a government that they knew would be able to address those very difficult circumstances with stability, certainty and with measure and would do so in a way that was not afflicted by the policies of crisis but took a stable and calm approach that would enable them to get on and plan for their future with confidence. That's why we as a government are continuing to do that, maintaining the discipline in our budget management, which is the big reason we've been able to take the absolute fiscal wreckage that was left by the Labor Party and, over the last six years, painstakingly do the work to get expenditure under control and to make the choices necessary to get the budget back into a position to give this country resilience at a time when it needs it. We did that not just to deal with today, as we are doing when it comes to our record funding for hospitals and schools and to funding fully the National Disability Insurance Scheme and all of these programs such as mental health additional support, but also to ensure that for the future, as we move to two per cent of GDP in Defence Force funding as a result of the reforms we've put in place, we're providing for the future of the world. There is $100 billion in an infrastructure pipeline, new water infrastructure—21 projects which are around the country today. Some $1.5 billion is being invested in those projects, many of which are underway even today. It is the stable, certain and calm approach that Australians have been looking for.

Whether it's there or how we are responding to the drought and ensuring, as I've just said in answer to the Leader of the Opposition, the programs we're delivering on the drought and providing that resource and support where it's needed, the stability and certainty in our engagement with the countries of our region, our partners and those further afield and our greatest allies, they have seen the stability and certainty in the approach that we've been taking. They've understood that Australia is a country that carries its own weight, that engages with its partners to form new trade agreements which not only expand opportunities for Australia but underpin the prosperity of our region.

I was pleased to return from the inauguration of the President of Indonesia where these very points were able to be made, not just to the President but to those also in attendance. Stability and certainty is the mark of our government. (Time expired)