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

I was not a minister in the government in the period 1996-2007. I can see that the Labor Party is interested in the ancient past. We are interested in the future. We also understand that the people of Australia know very well what an outstanding performer Prime Minister Morrison has been in every single one of his ministerial and shadow ministerial responsibilities. They know how effective he has been in fixing up Labor's mess at our borders. They know how effective he has been in initiating and implementing social welfare reform, getting people back from welfare into work. That, of course, is why the proportion of working-age Australians on welfare today is the lowest it has been in 25 years. I know that Prime Minister Morrison, as Treasurer, was the key architect to turn around the situation that we inherited from Labor. When Labor lost government in 2013, when Mr Bowen was Treasurer in 2013, they left behind a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a rapidly deteriorating budget position. Today, the economy is stronger, employment growth is stronger, the unemployment rate is well below where it was anticipated it would be—down to five per cent—and the budget position is stronger and improving. At the next election, the Australian people will be contrasting the strong plan, the strong team and the strong performance of the Prime Minister against the reckless, anti-business, class-warfare, politics-of-envy agenda of Mr Shorten turning Australian against Australian—