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

I think it's time to remind the chamber again that, when we came into government in September 2013, the economy was weakening, unemployment was rising and the budget position was rapidly deteriorating. Today, the economy is stronger, employment growth is much stronger, the unemployment rate has got a 4 in front of it and, of course, we've got the budget back in a strong and improving position—in fact, we've got the budget back in the black. What a stronger economy delivers is better opportunities for families to get ahead and the opportunity to get a job and to get a better job. It also means, as more people are employed, that government collects more personal income tax revenue without the need to increase taxes. More people paying tax means more revenue for government without the need to increase taxes. Do you know what the government can do in that circumstance? We can cut taxes. We can provide income tax relief to encourage and reward and incentivise hardworking families across Australia, as well as fund all of the essential services across health, education—you name it—that Australians rely on.

Of course, when Labor were last in government, they made such a mess of the budget in the context of a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a rapidly deteriorating budget position. Do you know what happened under Labor? They stopped listing essential medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. In our period in government, on the back of a stronger economy, on the back of more effective expenditure control and on the back of managing the budget better, we have actually been able to invest in providing affordable access to high-quality medicines for all patients across Australia. Two thousand medicines have been listed during our period in government, at a cost of about $10 billion. These are the sorts of things that a good government that manages the economy properly and manages the budget properly can do. This is not the time to change direction and go back to the discredited Labor way of the past.