Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Given the international headwinds and other challenges our economy is facing, will the Treasurer remind the House why stable and certain economic management is crucial to our economic resilience; and is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies that could jeopardise our economic growth?

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

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

Just before the Treasurer starts—I want to be more efficient; I'll just warn the member for Rankin now!

Opposition members interjecting—

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

He can't get a question, so he's left to shouting out! There he goes! I thank the member for Moore for his question. I acknowledge his experience in business prior to coming to this place and also the fact that, in his electorate of Moore, more than 70,000 taxpayers will get a tax cut as a result of legislation that we on this side of the House have supported, and more than 10,000 small businesses are able to access the instant asset write-off that, again, we announced in this year's budget.

The Australian economy, like many economies around the world, is facing significant domestic and international economic headwinds. When it comes to the trade tensions between the United States and China, the IMF have said that, if they're not resolved by next year, you could see some $700 billion wiped off global GDP. In the national accounts today we saw the impact of the drought—5.9 per cent farm GDP down through the year. We know that the drought is affecting two-thirds of Queensland and around 95 per cent of New South Wales. Despite that, despite those economic headwinds, the Australian economy showed remarkable resilience and continues to grow. In fact, growth has increased to 1.7 per cent through the year and 0.4 per cent through the quarter. We've seen increases in public final demand, we've seen net exports contribute to GDP, and we continue to see the government, with its $100 billion 10-year infrastructure pipeline, creating more jobs across the economy.

For the first time in more than 40 years, we've seen a current account surplus—now a record current account surplus—of $7.9 billion as a result, in part, of the free trade agreements that this side of the House has supported. We've also seen, for the first time in 30 years, welfare dependency down to a low, such as it is. We've seen the biggest tax cuts in more than 20 years. And, as the Prime Minister has said, household disposable income has had its fastest increase in a decade. Of course, the budget is back in balance for the first time in 11 years and we're delivering the first surplus in 12 years.

Mr Speaker, could you imagine if those opposite had got their chance in government? They would have been whacking the Australian economy with $387 billion in higher taxes—higher taxes that the member for Rankin said he was pleased about and higher taxes that 'Chairman' Swan still wants Labor to hold onto. Only this side of the House can be relied on to see the economy continue to grow. Only this side of the House can create more jobs and only this side of the House can continue to lower tax. (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's statement, after the release of last quarter's national accounts, about the economy, when he said the following:

… you'd expect that things would improve in the next quarter.

Given economic growth has slowed in the September quarter, to 0.4 per cent—down from 0.6 per cent last quarter—how did the Prime Minister get it so wrong?

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

The September quarter growth figures this year are higher than last year's September quarter growth figures. I'll take you through it again. The September quarter this year was higher than the September quarter last year. The growth in this year's September quarter was higher than the growth in the September quarter last year. Now, I know the Leader of the Opposition is not economically literate—

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

The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, on relevance. The quote was from the Prime Minister at the end of the September quarter, at the end of the last quarter, 'You'd expect that things would improve'—

Government members interjecting—

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

Members on my right will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'You'd expect that things'—

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

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

No, the Leader of the Opposition can just wait, because I can't hear him. It's not his fault. The Treasurer and others will cease interjecting. Could the Leader of the Opposition just repeat that.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It went to the Prime Minister's own quote that things would improve in the next quarter. It was 0.6; now it's 0.4. That's not improvement.

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

Let me run through the quarterly results for September across the G7 countries. Australia is not a member of the G7, but our quarterly growth was 0.4. The United States was 0.5. Japan was 0.1, down from 0.4 in the previous quarter. Germany was 0.1. France was 0.3. The United Kingdom was 0.3. Italy was 0.1. Canada was 0.3. For the Euro area it was 0.2. For the OECD it was 0.3. The Australian economy grew by 0.4, and it wasn't just that; through the year growth went from 1.4 to 1.7. Our through-the-year growth is higher at the end of the September quarter than it was at the end of the June quarter. But, importantly, we had a 2½ per cent growth in household disposable income, which is the biggest increase in a quarter we've seen in a decade, and the average compensation per employee, the average wage, rose by 0.7 in the quarter to 2.9 per cent higher over the year.

Those opposite like to talk the economy down, but the Australian people have a different view; they wanted to earn more and wanted to keep more of what they earned. That is what they voted for at the last election, because they knew the Labor Party wanted to take more of their hard earnings. They wanted to increase taxes. They thought the answer to the challenges in our economy was higher taxes. Only an economic genius of Labor Party pedigree, of those opposite, could think that increasing taxes at a time of international and domestic strain on our economy was a good idea, but it takes an absolute economic incompetent like the Leader of the Opposition to think of keeping those taxes six months later. He has had six months to say: 'That was a bad idea. That was a shocking idea. We shouldn't have sought to take money away from retirees. We shouldn't have sought to tax housing. We shouldn't have done any of that.' He is stuck to those taxes just as much as the previous Leader of the Opposition was.