Gavin Pearce (Braddon, 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 Morrison government's economic plan is creating more jobs for Australians?

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

There are a lot of things that are discussed in this chamber: important matters of national security, important matters—

Ms Butler interjecting—

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

It's pretty straightforward: the member for Griffith has been asked to cease. That's a good idea—just walk; it's quicker. That is a 94(a).

The member for Griffith then left the chamber.

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

There are many important matters that members who are elected as part of our government come into this chamber to pursue: our national security, our engagement in the Indo-Pacific region and keeping Australians safe. But one of the key matters that this government was elected on was on the basis of ensuring that we continue to create jobs for Australians right around the country. Whether it is up there in Tasmania, up there in North Queensland, out in the suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane, or in the great state of Western Australia our government was elected on the platform of doing what was necessary to create jobs. More than 1.5 million jobs have been created since this government was first elected. We're going to create another 1.25 million jobs. That's what we took to the Australian people.

Unemployment, since we were first elected—and I note it was rising at the time—has fallen from 5.7 per cent to 5.1 per cent. In 2019, 260,000 jobs were created by the hard work of Australian businesses and Australian men and women going out there and making things happen in an Australian economy that has been supported through the proactive and enlightened economic policies of this government, which is about ensuring that this government lives within its means and Australian businesses can get out there and make things happen and create jobs right across our economy.

It is true to say that the youth unemployment rate is lower today than it has been at the past three federal elections. We have a plan to deliver employment to another 250,000 young Australians, because if a young Australian gets a gob it changes their life. One of the greatest achievements of this government is reducing the level of welfare dependency in the working-age population to the lowest level in 30 years. Do you know how you do that? You get young people into jobs, and that's what our government is committed to doing. That's what our government is passionate about: creating jobs. They don't happen by accident. They happen by getting the tax burden down. They happen by ensuring that the government lives within its means. They happen by rolling out $100 billion infrastructure plans, ensuring we are delivering the projects on the ground. They happen by expanding our trade borders. They happen by investing in skills education and making that a priority, as we took to the last election. They happen through projects like the Youth Jobs PaTH, which was opposed by those opposite, which gets people into jobs and gives businesses the opportunity to put people in regional areas into jobs. Our government is about jobs. The opposition spends each day talking about petty politics.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Why does the Treasurer pretend that weakness in the economy is entirely due to the fires and coronavirus when, before they hit, this Liberal government was already presiding over weak and slowing growth—with a one in front of it; stagnant wages growth; high underemployment; declining business investment and falling productivity; well below average consumer and business confidence; and record net debt and record household debt?

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

I'm pleased to inform the member for Rankin and the House that we have the first current account surplus in more than 40 years, we have the lowest welfare dependency in 30 years, we have the biggest tax cuts in more than 20 years; and we have the first balanced budget in 11 years. The member for Rankin referred to the time before the coronavirus. That includes the month of December. That includes the job numbers for the month of December. We created 29,000 new jobs and unemployment fell to 5.1 per cent.

What was unemployment under Labor? It was 5.7 per cent. Employment growth today is at 2.1 per cent. What was it under Labor? It was 0.7 per cent. Today employment growth is around three times what it was under Labor and around double the OECD average. Under Labor, the gender pay gap was 17.2 per cent and rising. Today it is now 14 per cent, and we are seeing that women are about $1,000 a year better off in that particular bracket. Under Labor, non-mining investment was in freefall. It fell 10 per cent over their six years in government. Since we've come to government, growth in non-mining investment has been over 30 per cent. Under Labor, in their last year, 62,000 small businesses shut their doors. Under us, in the last reported year, 75,000 small businesses were created. Under Labor, living standards, as measured by real net national disposable income per capita, had fallen by 1.2 per cent. They are 3.3 per cent higher through the year today. Under Labor, in their last four budget outcomes, the budget deteriorated by about $80 billion; whereas, in our last four budgets we've seen an improvement of over $10 billion.

Growth in the Australian economy continues and we've seen more jobs created. Under Labor, you'll always see higher taxes and fewer jobs.