Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Under this government, real wages have risen 20 per cent in real terms. How much did they rise under the Labor government? They did not rise at all in 13 years; there was no increase in real wages. Under us they have gone up 20 per cent. Inflation is contained. Unemployment is at record lows. Australians are in jobs. They have decided that, with the confidence they have in our economic management, they can afford to borrow money and get the things that they want. And they can afford to do so because real wages are rising and they have got jobs. Under our government that will continue to be the case, unlike if you elect a Labor government, when we will see a return to the bad old days of businesses closing, interest rates rising, people out of jobs. We do not want that for the Australian people. We urge the Australian people, when they face the choice in the next few months, to vote for us and to vote for the continuity of jobs, low inflation and low interest rates.