Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer tell us how the Morrison government is ensuring that the budget is prepared to deal with any economic impacts from coronavirus? Is he aware of any alternative policies?

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

I thank the member for Mackellar for his question and I acknowledge his background in the private sector before coming to this place and his chairmanship of the House tax and revenue committee—and no-one was more pleased when we on this side of the House, against the will of those opposite, passed more than $300 billion of tax cuts. We on this side of the House believe the path to a stronger economy is through lower taxes, more jobs and responsible budget management. Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of the Howard government coming to office, and it's important to remember what they inherited and what they left. When they came to government, they inherited a budget deficit of around two per cent of GDP, or $11 billion. By the time they left office, there was a budget surplus—

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

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

If the Treasurer could pause for a second and the member for Gorton could stop interjecting. As I've said repeatedly, we're falling into bad habits here. I listened to the question carefully. The Treasurer can obviously give some context and some comparison, but, as much as I was part of the Howard government, the question didn't ask him about that. It asked about the government's policies and any alternatives to them.

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

I was explaining the importance of responsible budget management—that the Howard government left a pristine budget sheet. When we came to government, we inherited a fiscal mess. There was a deficit of $48½ billion, or around three per cent of GDP. Now we have the first balanced budget in 11 years. Unemployment has come down from the 5.7 per cent that we inherited to 5.3 per cent today, and we have helped create more than 1½ million new jobs. We have helped create more than 1½ million new jobs and we have passed more than $300 billion of tax cuts. This important economic discipline will allow us the fiscal flexibility to respond to the economic shock that we are now seeing from the spread of coronavirus. Quite distinct from the impact of the GFC, the coronavirus is disrupting global supply chains and is having a significant economic impact. Overnight, the OECD singled out Australia and Germany as two countries which could introduce additional economic measures without endangering debt sustainability. That was the OECD talking about the importance of maintaining fiscal buffers.

I'm asked about alternative approaches. We know that those opposite, when they last responded to an economic shock, spent money on pink batts and overpriced school halls. Most recently, they took $387 billion of higher taxes to the last election. The importance of disciplined fiscal management gives a government the ability to respond to economic shocks like the spread of coronavirus, which this economy now faces. We know that those opposite, when they were last responding to an economic shock, we saw that they spent money on pink batts and overpriced school halls and most recently took $387 billion of higher taxes to the last election. The importance of disciplined fiscal management gives a government the ability to respond to economic shocks like the spread of the coronavirus, which this economy now faces.