Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] My question is to the Treasurer. In 30 years per capita net national income has risen by only 130 per cent, and yet housing and motor vehicle prices have risen by over 600 per cent and food by over 230 per cent. Affordable living is now beyond many Australians. Wouldn't the deregulation of the building codes and land subdivisions, along with capping down to 100 per cent the current unconscionable farm-gate-to-family mark-up of 300 per cent on food stop 30 per cent of our families collapsing into poverty?

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

I thank the member for Kennedy for his question. I understand that he's talking about the cost of living, and it is true that a lot of Australians are doing it tough right now—particularly as a consequence of the largest economic shock since the Great Depression. But I can inform the member and, indeed, the House, that household disposable income is up 5.8 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

This is because we, as a government, have put around $300 billion of support into the economy—direct economic support for families and for businesses. In the budget this year I announced a number of other measures that go to the heart of the cost of living. Indeed, since the pandemic we have cut taxes by about $24 billion for Australians. But in the budget we had $9.7 billion in childcare support and we had $9 billion for an additional support for jobseekers, with the single largest increase since 1986. We had $9 billion for homelessness and for housing, with programs like HomeBuilder, and also Commonwealth Rent Assistance, which is so important.

These programs are supporting the economy and supporting households who, as the member points out, are doing it very tough. But we can only invest in these measures when we have a strong economy. I can tell the House that Australia is only one of nine countries in the world to have a AAA credit rating from the three leading credit-rating agencies. We know that, when we came to government, unemployment was at 5.7 per cent. Today it's 4.6 per cent, with unemployment having gone below five per cent for the first time in a decade.

I say to the honourable member: we, as a government, are committed to driving down taxes, to put more money into people's pockets and to try to ease the cost of living with the investments that we are making in the energy sector, which has seen energy prices come down by around 10 per cent, from their peak. So whether it's child care, housing, jobseeker support for those who are out of work or our energy investments, we are focused on driving down the cost of living for all Australians.

Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] My question is to the Treasurer. How is the Morrison government's proven record of delivering tax cuts to businesses and families strengthening our economic recovery and helping to drive unemployment to its lowest level in a decade, 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 Herbert. I thank him for his service to Australia in the Australian Defence Force. He is somebody who was injured in Afghanistan, someone who has worn the uniform with pride and someone who represents Australia largest garrison city, Townsville, and supports our veterans. We say thank you to the member for Herbert.

I thank him for this question. He recognises that this side of the House, the coalition—Liberals and Nationals—are committed to creating more jobs and driving down taxes. When we came to government, unemployment was 5.7 per cent. Today it's 4.6 per cent, and 1.4 million additional jobs have been created since we came to government. When it comes to lower taxes, we have legislated through the parliament around $300 billion of income tax cuts. That means that, if you're a teacher in Townsville on $60,000, you are paying $6,480 less tax under our government as a result of the measures that we have passed on this side of the House. If you're a small business with a turnover of less than $50 million, you've seen your tax come down to 25 per cent, from 30 per cent.

Immediate expensing and the loss carry-back measures have seen an increase in investment across the country. In terms of machinery and equipment investment, we've seen about a 20 per cent increase as a result of the business investment incentives that we have supported on this side of the House. So we're delivering lower taxes, and we're delivering more jobs.

On top of that, we're investing in infrastructure—in programs like Snowy 2.0, which is going to support around 5,000 jobs; in programs like the Western Sydney airport, which will support around 11,000 jobs; and in other programs, like the Inland Rail, which will support more than 20,000 jobs. They are some very important infrastructure projects, which are creating jobs and driving up productivity.

I'm asked if there are any other alternative policies to our approach to create more jobs and lower taxes. We know that those opposite support higher taxes, because they went to the last election with $387 billion of higher taxes. The member for McMahon told Australians, 'If you don't like our policies, don't vote for us,' and they took him literally. Now we know the member for Rankin is cooking up a tax on family businesses—300,000 of them. It's a $27 billion tax on family businesses that will leave businesses worse off as a result of Labor's addiction to higher taxes. We on this side of the House are committed to creating more jobs and lowering taxes for all Australians.