Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Cormann. I refer to his endorsement of the Business Council of Australia's report in question time yesterday. I also refer to comments by Ms Westacott of the BCA, who said that instability at the heart of the government is 'paralysing our capacity to get policy done'. Does the minister agree with Ms Westacott?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government absolutely agrees and I agree that chaos and dysfunction in government is a very bad idea, and that is of course why the Australian people threw the Labor Party out of office. That is of course why the Australian people in September 2013 voted for the strong and united team that the coalition presented at the last election and the strong and united team that this coalition has been in government for most of the period that we have been in government.

It is no secret. We have had a couple of difficult weeks. We have come out the other end. We are going back to providing strong and effective government. And do you know what? The very important thing is that we have the policies to put Australia on a stronger foundation for the future. We have the policies to clean up the mess that you left behind. We have the policies to get spending growth under control so that it is sustainable into the future. We have the policies to strengthen the economy, to create more jobs and to help families. Of course, we are making progress. The economy is growing more strongly now than it did under Labor. The national accounts came out today, and what they show is that the economy over the last 12 months has grown by 2.5 per cent, up from 1.9 per cent in the last 12 months under the Labor government.

Last year, the first year of the coalition government, more than 600 jobs were created every day—three time as many as the year before. We are making progress. Do we still have a fair way to go? Of course, we recognise that. We cannot fix all of the problems that Labor created over three years of bad, chaotic and dysfunctional government in 18 months—but we will keep at it. We will continue to work as a strong, united and effective team in government. Even over the last few weeks, as we were dealing with a few internal challenges, we were still providing much better government than Labor every did. The Australian people know that this is a government that is working very hard— (Time expired)

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer to the government's decision to increase the red tape on foreign investors by imposing a $15 million threshold on agricultural land for some, but not all, foreign investors. I also refer to comments by Ms Westacott who said:

We cannot be sure the benefits of the government's decision will outweigh the costs as no regulatory impact statement has been undertaken.

Does the minister agree with Ms Westacott that the costs may well outweigh the benefits?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When it comes to imposing more red tape costs on business, this former minister for finance and more regulation knows all about it. This is of course the minister—

Senator Wong interjecting—

Senator Wong is again interjecting. She is trying to query relevance. What I would say, Mr President, is that former finance minister Senator Wong asked me about red tape costs for business, and I am directly responding to the assertion.

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

Pause the clock. A point of order, Senator Moore.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I am actually taking the point of order, not Senator Wong. It is in terms of direct relevance to the question asked by Senator Wong. It is about Ms Westcott's statements. It is about a direct response to the question.

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

Mr President, I cannot hear the point of order because of the incessant interjections of the Leader of the Opposition.

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order! No-one is to respond to any interjections. That is the first rule. All senators need to come to order. In relation to the point of order, Senator Moore, I remind the minister that he has 35 seconds in which to answer the question, and I remind him of the question.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have a proud track record of reducing red tape-related costs for business by more than $2 billion a year. When it comes to the implementation of a policy commitment which we took to the last election, that was part of the conversation with the Australian people in the lead-up to the last election. On this side of the parliament we actually delivered on the commitments that we made to the Australian people before the election. But let me just say that Labor imposed more than 21,000 new pieces of red tape. We are actually reducing red-tape costs for business every single day, and we are proud of our record. (Time expired)

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I again refer to Ms Westacott, who said, 'We don't have a budget emergency.' Does the minister agree with the BCA's Jennifer Westacott?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong is very selectively quoting. Ms Westacott very clearly pointed out the significant problems that would follow in terms of lowering living standards and weakening economic growth if we did not address the disastrous trajectory that the previous government put Australia on. If we stayed on the spending growth trajectory they put Australia on, the economy would weaken and people would be forced to pay higher taxes or accept deeper cuts. We are making measured change with an eye on the medium to long term, putting Australia on a stronger foundation for the future, making sure that, through sensible structural reforms—

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

Pause the clock. A point of order, Senator Moore?

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a point of order on direct relevance to the question. The question was: does the minister agree with Ms Westacott's comments about the economy?

Honourable senators interjecting—

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

Order! It does not help me ruling on a point of order if people interject. In relation to your point of order, Senator Moore, the minister responded to a quote and then clarified that the quote may not have been used in its entirety. He was then asked whether he agreed with the quote. He is clarifying the position of the quote. The minister has 20 seconds left in which to answer the question.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not only did the previous government leave behind a very bad budget position; the worst thing the previous government did was to put Australia on an unsustainable spending growth trajectory for the future, an unsustainable debt growth trajectory for the future. If we did not address that, then we would be exposing Australia to lower living standards and higher taxes. (Time expired)