David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We've heard a lot about jobs in relation to this motion. What the senator should be taking note of is that wages have increased across the economy by 2.3 per cent in the past year. So, while the inflation rate is only 1.6 per cent, wages are going up in very real terms. As the senator should know, wages can only go up when conditions are set that way. And, with the headwinds we're facing, our economy is very well set to perform better than all others. As my good colleague Senator O'Sullivan just said, the economy is not immune from the global trade tensions. They will have, and are having, an effect on all economies, but the Australian economy is far more resilient than every other economy. So, while countries such as Germany and Singapore are going backwards, Australia is still growing. And I repeat: it is the 28th year of constant growth.

That is not something to be sneezed at. You can't do that against those headwinds and trade tensions if you don't set the right sort of framework, and the Morrison government has set the right sort of framework. Jobs are growing; jobs are coming. We've produced over 1.4 million jobs over the past year, and we have said, before the election and since, that we will create another 1¼ million jobs. With those jobs comes growth in wages. But one doesn't follow the other. You don't move wages and then hope for the jobs. That doesn't happen. That is not the real world.

Our budget is coming back into surplus for the first time in more than a decade, as we maintain our record of fiscal discipline and targeted spending. So there is no room to be moving wages arbitrarily, as those on the other side would have us do. We continue to monitor global events, and this government takes the necessary actions to be able to do so. In our budget we set out the conditions of how we were going to meet this, and that has shown up in the recent national accounts, with that 28 consecutive years of economic growth. And I say again: it's a record unmatched by any other developed economy. It's also a reminder of the resilience of the Australian economy. In the June quarter, real GDP grew by 0.5 per cent. That is 1.4 per cent higher for the financial year.

So, as you can see, we do create the conditions to be able to create more jobs. Tax cuts have come in. People have started to feel them. Over five million tax returns have already been received, and $15 billion is now flowing through the economy that wasn't there before and that certainly wouldn't be flowing through the economy if those on the other side had been elected. But, as we know, and as I said in my first speech last night, when the electorate sees what it sees as its priorities being observed, it shows a prevailing common sense, and that prevailing common sense produces a government that produces results for them. With that, we are able to bring more jobs and better conditions for business.

I know I need to explain to the other side what business does and how it is the producer of jobs. You can't be putting people into the Public Service just because you want more friends. The Morrison government is the government that produces more jobs because it sets the conditions for business so that businesses—like the one I used to run, the small businesses that are the engine of our economy—see that we can set the conditions. They take faith, and they create the jobs. So in answer: the conditions are right. We've set the framework, and jobs will come and salaries will increase.