Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Paterson for his question. As Senator Reynolds was actually stating herself, the Liberal-National government has overseen the creation of almost 1.3 million jobs since we were elected to office in 2013. That actually equates to 240,000 jobs per year on average compared to under the former Labor government where the economy only created on average around 155,000 jobs per year. So, on those statistics alone, the Liberal-National government's policies are job-creating.

The reason, though, that there are jobs being created is because the Liberal-National government has put in place the right economic framework. That, of course, includes lowering taxes, in particular for small and medium businesses; backing small and medium businesses; and ensuring that all Australians have the skills that they need. When you put in place the right economic framework, you create jobs—1.3 million almost. As such, we've been able to commit to the Australian people that our plan going forward is to create a further 1.25 million jobs if we're elected to government. A key part of our economic plan is to back Australia's small and medium businesses—around 3.3 million small and medium businesses. They employ around 5.7 million Australians. The way we backed them was by reducing their taxes to 25 per cent despite, of course, the opposition from the Labor Party. The Labor Party don't believe in lowering taxes. That is something that—on the Liberal-National side of politics—is in our DNA. We understand the more money a small and family business has in their back pocket— (Time expired)