Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer please remind the House of the Morrison government's ongoing success in securing our economic recovery to ensure that Australian families can benefit from extra jobs and lower taxes, and is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies?

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

I thank the member for Ryan and acknowledge his experience as a councillor in the Brisbane City Council, the largest council across Australia, where he performed a very important role—Treasurer of the Brisbane City Council. He understands, as we understand on this side of the House, that with COVID-19 Australia has been hit by the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. The Morrison government made a commitment of $291 billion. That is more than twice what all the states and territories have committed combined. The result has been the creation of nearly one million new jobs since May last year. The unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent. There were 115,000 jobs created last month, and 85 per cent of those jobs were full-time jobs. Sixty per cent of those jobs went to women. In our March quarter national accounts we saw economic growth of 1.8 per cent, beating market expectations. We saw farm GDP at its strongest numbers in seven years. We saw machinery and equipment with the strongest numbers in 17 years and housing investment with the strongest number in 17 or 18 years as well, off the back of our programs. Indeed, the last three quarters of economic growth have been the strongest in more than 50 years. We saw Standard & Poor's say that Australia's response to this crisis has been swift and decisive, and we saw them affirm our AAA credit rating. Australia is one of only nine countries in the world to have a AAA credit rating from the three leading credit rating agencies.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

I hear the interjections from the member for Rankin. He and the Labor Party promised, at the last election, higher taxes on families, whereas the coalition delivered lower taxes on families. The Labor Party at the last election promised higher taxes on businesses, and we have delivered lower taxes on businesses. The Labor Party at the last election promised higher taxes on investment, and we have delivered lower taxes on investment. The Labor Party at the last election promised higher taxes on housing, and we have delivered the programs and policies that have seen record numbers of first home buyers get into the market. And, at the last election, the Labor Party promised higher taxes on superannuation, and we have delivered policies which are cutting the fees for people with superannuation. So we on this side of the House are cutting taxes and creating jobs, in stark contrast to those opposite.