James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Abetz. Will the minister advise the Senate of the a significant benefits that the government has delivered to Australian families, businesses and workers since coming to office?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to inform the Senate and Senator McGrath that since being elected to office the government has reduced the cost of living for Australian families, boosted investor confidence for Australian businesses and protected the jobs of many Australian workers. We have scrapped the world's biggest carbon tax, saving the average Australian household $550 each and every year, whilst protecting tens of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing sector. We have also abolished Labor's job destroying mining tax, unshackling this vital sector to create more jobs for more Australians. We have delivered historic free-trade agreements with Japan, Korea in China, opening up three this East Asia's largest markets—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pause the clock.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is painful!

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Cameron.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have delivered historic free-trade agreements that have opened up Australian business and job opportunities in East Asia's largest markets, from agriculture to the services sector. We have handed down the single largest infrastructure package in Australia's history, which is worth $50 billion, creating tens of thousands of jobs and investing in our future.

In addition, we have approved $1 trillion worth of projects with environmental approvals. We have cut $2 billion in red tape alone, freeing Australian businesses from the burden of unnecessary and obsolete regulation, helping them to employ more people. We have stopped the boats, preventing deaths at sea and saving the budget billions of dollars. In 2013 under Labor, there were 302 illegal boat arrivals; under this government, that number has been reduced to just one. We have provided an additional $630 million to our police and security services to strengthen our national security. The nation has been turned around for the better. (Time expired)

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Will the minister inform the Senate what work remains to be done in order to build a strong, prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia?

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Change the government.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is what they did in September 2013 last year. The government is implementing long-term structural reforms to clean up Labor's mess and fix the debt and deficit disaster they left behind. Labor left us with more than 200,000 more Australians unemployed, $667 billion in projected gross debt and $123 billion in cumulative deficits. As Deloitte Access Economics Director, Mr Richardson, has warned:

If we haven't repaired the budget starting now, we will really regret that down the track.

Senator Lines interjecting—

According to Mr Richardson, the government's budget repair package is 'the only road map to structural fiscal repair that Australia has.'

Senator Lines interjecting—

There is no other in the marketplace. All the Labor Party do is shout, interject, whinge and whine without an alternative strategy. This government has delivered a strategy. (Time expired)

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate of the importance of overcoming obstacles to strengthening our economy and creating more jobs for more Australians?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a very real danger that, if Labor's budget mess is not fixed immediately, Australia will not be in a strong position to withstand any future global economic shocks. We need to take appropriate steps to insulate ourselves against these pressures. If we do not, Australia will be vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy. If we shirk the hard decisions today, we will suffer the harsh consequences tomorrow, and we will be rightly judged accordingly. We all have a shared responsibility to future generations to do—

Senator Lines interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lines.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

not that which is easy but to do that which is right. Today, the greatest obstacle to strengthening our economy, regrettably, is the Labor Party, which is blocking over $28 billion worth of savings, including $5 billion of their own savings that they promised the Australian electorate that they would keep. (Time expired)