Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute for what I am sure is a very lengthy period to the debate on the Appropriation Bills, which appropriate funds for government expenditure in 2015-16. As we consider these bills, it is appropriate to consider the Abbott government's management of the budget and its management of the Australian economy. Since this government handed down its first budget in May 2014, economic growth has slowed—declined from three per cent in the year to March 2014 to less than 2.3 per cent in the year to March 2015—and they have delivered below-trend economic growth. Australians' incomes are down—Australians' average disposable income is down 1½ per cent in real terms over the year to March 2015. We have seen that business confidence has taken a hit—now down some 70-odd per cent. Business confidence is now down 70-odd per cent since you came to office.

Senator Seselja interjecting—

Senator Seselja, you enjoy telling us that you have pro-business policies, what have you done to business confidence? Consumer confidence is down—the Melbourne Institute Index shows that consumer confidence index is down some 13.8 per cent since Tony Abbott came to government. We have seen the lowest wage growth in two decades in the year to March 2015.