Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

After five years of coalition government, the economy is in much better shape than we found it in. More jobs are being created and the budget is in a stronger position. It should never be forgotten that when the Labor Party government in which Mr Bowen was the Treasurer and Mr Shorten was a senior minister in the education and employment portfolio lost government in September 2013 it left behind a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a rapidly deteriorating budget position.

Today, the economy is growing more strongly. The economic growth outlook is much better. Employment growth is much stronger than what it was. The unemployment rate is well below where it was headed. Indeed, the budget position is in much, much better shape and has a much stronger foundation and trajectory for the future. The national accounts for the June 2018 quarter showed 3.4 per cent growth in through-the-year terms, stronger than any G7 economy and stronger than the OECD. In year-average terms, which is what we publish in the budget, our economy grew by 2.9 per cent, above the forecast of 2.75 per cent published in the 2018-19 budget. Nominal GDP grew by 4.7 per cent on a year-average basis, also above the budget forecast of 4.25 per cent. In the period since we were elected to government in September 2013 more than a million new jobs have been created in the Australian economy. When Tony Abbott went to the 2013 election promising more than a million new jobs in five years, the Labor Party sneered at us and said it couldn't be done. Well, over five years of an Abbott and Turnbull led coalition government, we have delivered. Of course, the Morrison government, in strong coalition with Deputy Prime Minister McCormack, will continue to build on the achievements of the past five years. But of course the Labor Party still— (Time expired)