Katie Allen (Higgins, 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 stability and certainty of a strong budget guarantees the delivery of essential services Australians rely on, and is the Prime Minister aware of how alternative approaches to the budget would impact these services?

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

As we said at the last election and have said for many years, the ability to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on, be it in hospitals, schools, aged-care packages, home care packages or disability support—all of these depend on a strong economy that can underpin a strong budget. A strong economy is one that has produced almost 1.5 million jobs over the last six years. A strong economy is one that has ensured, over the last three years, consecutive monthly increases in employment for 36 months. That is the first time we have ever seen this in the country since February 1978, which is when records began on these measures. It is the fact that we have been able to get Australians off welfare and into work which has been the central component of strengthening the budget, which has seen the budget coming back into surplus this year. When you can actually manage an economy and when you can manage your discipline on spending and get it under control and bring the budget back to surplus then you can also at the same time look Australians directly in the eye, as we did at the last election, and say, 'We can guarantee the essential services you rely on, because we know how to manage the economy and we know how to manage a budget.' That means we have guaranteed record funding to every school on the basis of student need, some $310 billion in our schools over the next decade—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

The member for Sydney has been warned. That is her final warning.

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

not only record spending on our schools; fully guaranteed funding for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, through a $140 billion investment in the capabilities of Australians; record health and hospitals funding, with an extra $31 billion through the National Healthcare Agreement; supporting the increase in bulk-billing in Medicare to the record rate of 86.2 per cent last financial year, meaning some 86 out of every 100 visits to the GP are free, fully funded by a government that knows how to manage a budget, exercise discipline on its finances and support a stronger economy; increasing investment to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, with some 2,200 new or amended items listed on the PBS, which represents an average of around 30 listings per month, at an overall cost of $10.6 billion; $7 billion extra in childcare subsidies, paid to 1.1 million families; and $1 billion extra every year on supporting aged care, delivering the essential services Australians rely on, because our government knows how to support a stronger economy and knows how to manage and deliver a strong budget position that gives Australians resilience and assurance in the areas of uncertainty that they face in the years ahead.

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

I will again remind members—just the member for Hunter—that, if a minister or the Prime Minister is still on their feet, answering a question, I don't want members walking to the dispatch box. You're not going to miss out. I allocate the call; it's all going to be okay.