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

I thank Senator Hume for that question. It is an incredibly important question. Of course, the outcome that the government is focused on is: providing the best possible opportunity for Australians today and future generations of Australians to get ahead, to be successful and to have the most successful life they possibly can, because we understand that their individual success will contribute to our success as a nation, will contribute to providing opportunity to all Australians to be the best they possibly can be. That is why our government and our economic plan, our plan for jobs and growth, are based on the principles of freedom—the free market; reward for effort; encouraging people to stretch themselves, to work hard, to take risks. And, yes, our policies are based on the principle that we do need to ensure that we have an appropriately generous social safety net to look after those people in need of support.

Having a national economic plan that provides the best possible opportunity for individual Australians to be as successful as they can be will not only be good for them and their families and the communities they live in; it will be good for our country. It will help us generate the resources we need to ensure we can support those Australians who are doing it tough and we can continue to provide all of the necessary resources into providing a generously funded social safety net to ensure that those Australians that need that support can be appropriately supported. But let me be very, very clear: this is a government that wants to encourage people to be the best they can be. This is a government that wants to encourage people to pursue opportunity. This is a government that wants to incentivise people to make the best possible contribution to our country, to help contribute to our success as a nation and to help contribute to the success of their communities. That is how we create more jobs, that is how we create better-paid jobs and that is going to be a key battleground between now and the next election.