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

Australia is a globally focused open trading economy. That creates a lot of opportunity for us to continue to lift our living standards but it exposes us to risk because obviously what happens in the global economy matters to the Australian economy. That is why we are working to ensure we are internationally as competitive as possible, that the Australian economy is in the best possible position to take advantage of opportunities and as resilient as possible to deal with headwinds.

I'm asked by Senator Chandler whether I'm aware of alternative approaches in policy. Sadly, I'm not aware of any alternative policy approaches because I think the Labor Party these days is a policy-free zone. Since the election, what we've seen from the Labor Party in this chamber is nothing other than the pursuit of the politics of smear and innuendo. I hope that in 2020 we will see a different Labor Party—one that actually engages in policy debates for our nation.