Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. We are confident about Australia's future, so I ask the Treasurer to outline to the House how the Morrison government is working to make it even better through strong budget management and by paying down, down, Labor debt down; is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for Bowman for his question and acknowledge his extensive experience as a medical professional before he came into this place.

In his electorate more than 60,000 taxpayers will get the benefit of the tax cuts that we have passed through this parliament, and more than 16,000 small businesses will be able to access the instant asset write-off, which we passed through the parliament.

I inform the House that yesterday the national accounts were released, which showed that the Australian economy is enjoying its 29th consecutive year of economic growth. We can be confident about Australia's economic future, with household disposable income having its fastest increase in a decade. We have a current account that is in surplus for the first time in 40 years. We have welfare dependency that is at its lowest level in 30 years. We have the biggest tax cuts in 20 years and we have the first balanced budget in 11 years. We have more people in work than ever before. That is what this government has helped achieve.

Through this year we have taken legislation through the parliament to ensure $158 billion of tax cuts, abolishing a full tax bracket—the 37c in the dollar tax bracket—and we'll see 94 per cent of taxpayers pay a marginal rate of no more than 30c in the dollar. We've extended the instant asset write-off to companies with a turnover of up to $50 million and we've extended it to $30,000. We've also backed small businesses with a $2 billion securitisation fund. We're also ensuring that consumers will be able to get better deals on their banking services, their energy and their telecommunication, with the Consumer Data Right being passed through the parliament and the protecting your super legislation, which will deal with excessive fees as well as unwanted or unnecessary insurance and super.

Our priorities going forward include restoring the budget back into the black, with the first surplus in 12 years, and paying down Labor's debt; cutting red tape in the deregulation agenda, which will make it easier to employ people as well as getting faster approvals for major projects; infrastructure spending—$100 billion, a 10-year pipeline of infrastructure spending, the largest this country has ever seen as well as guaranteeing essential services. It's all about creating more jobs and cutting taxes, and we know the Labor Party, with its $387 billion of higher taxes, will always see fewer jobs and lower wages. We, on this side of the House, will create more jobs.

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

My question is again addressed to the Prime Minister, who this year promised to make a strong economy even stronger. That didn't happen, did it, Prime Minister? Hasn't the Prime Minister given Australians weaker economic growth, weaker wages growth, lower business investment, higher unemployment and underemployment, and the worst labour productivity growth on record?

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

The Leader of the Opposition asked about productivity. Under the coalition, multifactor productivity has averaged 0.7 per cent above its 20-year average of 0.5 per cent and is more than double the average under the previous Labor government of just 0.3 per cent. We know that when we came to government unemployment was at 5.7 per cent; today it's 5.3 per cent. We've got more women in work, more seniors in work and more young people in work, with more than 1.4 million new jobs having been created.

When it comes to debt, the Labor Party were the gold standard of lifting debt. Debt was growing—

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

The Treasurer will pause. The question made no reference to debt. The Treasurer has the call.

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

When it comes to creating more jobs and boosting the economy, the coalition can be trusted to make the Australian economy stronger for future generations.