Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Petrol prices have gone up as much as $900 for a typical family driving a standard car in a year, while real wages have fallen by $700. On top of this, childcare fees have gone up by $390 in a year. Hasn't it become harder and harder for working families to make ends meet under this decade-old government?

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

The reason the government focuses so much—this is our absolute focus—on securing a strong economy is for the very issues the member has raised in the question. You don't make people's lives easier by increasing their taxes. You don't make their lives easier by preventing small businesses from growing and gumming them up in more regulation. You don't increase the ability of government to support people through their pensions and other services that they rely on by talking down the Australian economy and trying to shut down the Australian resources industry. That's not what you do.

That's why our government has reversed those sorts of policies that were in place under the Labor Party—they would like to go there again, I have no doubt. That will be particularly the case as we go into this next election, because I understand that the Greens these days are now referring to themselves as shadow ministers in what would be a Labor-Greens government. They are talking it up, and the Labor Party have been pretty sneaky by not telling us what their policies are.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister is not even pretending to be directly relevant. There is no attempt being made. He is completely defying the standing orders and he is smirking about it.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call, and I would ask the Prime Minister to be relevant to the question.

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

Our policies on reducing taxes, on affordable and reliable energy, on getting Australians into skills—we have record levels of Australians in trade apprenticeships right now—are what support businesses to be able to support their employees, grow their businesses, increase their wages, enable them to buy a house and secure the economic recovery. That is what our policies are doing. They are building the congestion-busting infrastructure in our cities and job-making infrastructure in our regions that enables product to get from paddock to plate to port, to ensure that our agricultural and regional industries have got the opportunities they need to support the standard of living that people in Australia deserve and expect. We will continue to toil hard every day to ensure that we do everything we can to support them in that.

But do you know who we believe in most to deliver those things? We believe most in those Australians who go out there every day and work hard, run businesses, look after their kids, make decisions and work in their communities. We believe that Australians are at the centre of our economic plan. Those opposite think the government is at the centre of the plan and that the government should tax you more so they can try and increase your standard of living. Not us on this side of the House. We believe you are the answer, not the government. We think government should be getting more out of people's way as we secure this economic recovery, not cling onto those powers, which we know Labor always want to do. Once they get their hands on power, as Australians know, they can't release it.