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

My question is to the Prime Minister. His decade-old government had doubled government debt before COVID, and now it's approaching a record of $1 trillion. According to reports today, budget repair won't begin until after the election. Why won't the Prime Minister reveal his secret budget cuts before the election?

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

I was pleased to have question time extended today, just so that the shadow Treasurer would be able to get a question. If I had to extend question time to allow the member for Maribyrnong to get a question, we'd be here till midnight, I suspect. I'm very happy to have the shadow Treasurer's question addressed by the Treasurer.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order. I don't particularly want to exercise 94(a) on my first day in the chair. Please; I would call upon members of the House to keep the level of interjections—

Opposition members interjecting—

I would call upon members to restrain themselves. The Treasurer has the call.

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

I thank the 12th man of politics for his question. He's barely here, and he barely gets a question. The reality is the way we repair the budget is to grow the Australian economy. It's to see more people in jobs. It's to cut taxes to provide more incentive for work and to encourage aspiration and reward effort. Based on the figures in the budget announced in October of last year and then the final budget outcome for 2021, there was an $80 billion improvement as a result of a stronger labour market. Of course, there were other factors at play, but the stronger labour market was a primary factor. The fact that today unemployment is lower than when we came to government after the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression is a sign that our economic plan is working. There are more women in work today than when we came to government, the gender pay gap has narrowed since we've come to government, and business investment in machinery and equipment is now at the highest level in 20 years, even despite the recession, as a result of those business investment incentives. So we'll continue to do what is required to help the Australian economy recover from this economic shock.

We had to take some very difficult but necessary actions. Programs like JobKeeper helped save 700,000 jobs. The cash flow boost helped support small business. Business investment incentives and the $750 payments to pensioners and carers and millions on income support were all designed to help Australia through this economic shock. Now we're continuing to cut taxes, unlike those opposite. Taxes are being cut to reward effort and encourage aspiration, to allow small businesses to prosper and to allow Australian families to spend more of their hard-earned money on things that are important to them. Yes, the last two years have been difficult, but we've taken the necessary decisions to put the Australian economy on the road to recovery. There's only one thing that risks that recovery, and that's the Labor Party.

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

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper, and I congratulate you on completing your first question time.