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

In this business there's always a variety of people who have a variety of views on what should or shouldn't happen. We have a plan; we work to a plan to build a stronger economy and to create more jobs. This includes substantial income tax relief. It includes an ambitious $100 billion infrastructure investment pipeline. It includes an ambitious free trade agenda, which is designed to help our exporting businesses sell more Australian products and services around the world and create more jobs here in Australia. It includes our plan to bring the costs of electricity down. It includes our plan to make it easier to do business in Australia by reducing the cost of doing business through our deregulation agenda. When it comes to infrastructure, it's a matter of public record that we are prepared to move sooner on those projects that the state and territory governments are able to move sooner on, where that makes sense. It is also a matter of record that some time ago the Prime Minister wrote to premiers and chief ministers to invite them to work with the Commonwealth to identify those projects that can be delivered sooner.

We will never do what the Labor Party did, which was to recklessly throw money out the door on putting pink batts into houses, which then had to be taken out because the roofs were burning. And, do you know what, the beds were burning too! We're not going to go and spend billions of dollars on school halls that were not required. We are going to invest Australian taxpayers' money wisely on economy-enhancing, productivity-enhancing infrastructure that will build a stronger future. That is our responsibility. That is what we will be doing. Clearly, if the Labor Party had won the election, they would have increased the tax burden on the economy by $387 billion, which would have cost jobs and would have hurt families around Australia. We will stick to our plan. We will not be pushed around by the Labor Party, which has a very bad track record.