Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to advise Senator Bushby and the Senate that we are making progress, heading in the right direction, as we are working through our transition from resource investment and construction driven growth to broader drivers of economic activity and growth. The Australian economy is growing more strongly now than it was when we came into government in 2013. More jobs continue to be created, and our unemployment rate today is materially lower than what was anticipated would be the case today when Labor lost government in 2013. Over the past year, our economy grew by three per cent, up from just two per cent growth during Labor's last year in office. More than 400,000 jobs have been created in the economy since we came into government and, over the past 12 months, more than 10 times as many jobs were created in our economy than in Labor's last year in office.

This has not happened by accident. Since our election in 2013, the government has pursued reforms to help ensure the Australian economy transitions as successfully as possible from resource investment driven growth to broader drivers of growth. We have worked to ensure that our economy is as competitive, productive, innovative and agile as possible. We have worked to help business to be the most successful they can be so they can employ more Australians.

We have worked to make our tax system or growth-friendly by abolishing the mining tax, by abolishing the carbon tax and by delivering tax cuts for small business, and in this year's budget there will of course be a further instalment in our effort to make our tax system more growth-friendly. We have worked to reduce the cost of doing business, through an ambitious deregulation agenda. We have worked to help our exporting businesses get better access to key markets in our region. We have export agreements with China, Korea and Japan, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, all designed to help our exporters be more successful and employ more Australians.