Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Cormann. Can the minister confirm that last week's capital expenditure figures represent the worst quarterly fall since records began in 1987?

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

As I have said to the Senate previously, the Australian economy and the Australian budget are in better shape than they would have been had Labor stayed in government. That is No. 1. No. 2: when we came into government we inherited a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a budget position that was rapidly deteriorating. Remember the 11 short weeks between Labor's last budget and their pre-election economic statement. There was a $33 billion deterioration in the budget bottom line—about $3 billion a week.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

You might complain about the fact that in the context of global economic conditions, with the worst terms of trade in about 50 years, the economy is not growing more strongly. But let me tell you that it is growing more strongly than it would have had you stayed in government. If we had not taken all of that Labor lead out of our saddlebags, if we had not got rid of your disastrous mining tax, if we had not got rid of your disastrous carbon tax, which you want to bring back—the turbo charge—if we had not gone out to reduce red tape costs for business by $2 billion a year, if we had not pursued an ambitious free trade agenda helping our exporting businesses get better access to the key markets in our region—

An opposition senator interjecting—

Why are we not growing more strongly I have been asked by way of interjection. Well, do you know what? Australia continues to grow where other commodity-based economies are in recession. If you look at the situation in Canada and Brazil, they are in recession. Australia continues to grow and to a large degree that is because we have been working to reduce costs in the economy for business. That is because we have been working to improve our competitiveness and our productivity and to ensure that we get our budget spending back under control and back on a more sustainable trajectory for the future. We inherited a disastrous trajectory from Labor. We are working to fix your mess. Of course, more than 13 times as many jobs have been created this year—(Time expired)

Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister further confirm that since the election, despite the coalition promising a stronger and more prosperous economy, capital expenditure has fallen 24 per cent?

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

It is no wonder the Labor Party was so bad at managing the economy and the budget. The Australian economy right now is going through a transition. It is true that after significant capital investment in order to meet the demand for our key resources there was a very high level of investment in the resources sector in particular. There was a very high level of investment in the iron ore industry and a very high level of investment in the LNG industry. Of course, that will all keep driving increased production volumes.

One of the reasons why we are in better shape as an economy now than we otherwise might have been, despite the significant falls in our terms of trade, is that production volumes are going up and the value of the Australian dollar has been coming down. That has cushioned somewhat the significant effect in terms of the fall in our terms of trade. But there have been record levels of investment on the back of the best terms of trade in 140 years which peaked in 2012 under Labor and we—(Time expired)

Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask a further supplementary question. Does the economy, growing below trend and capital expenditure at historic lows, demonstrate that Mr Turnbull is just as incapable as Mr Abbott of providing the economic leadership that this nation needs?

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

The answer is no. With all due respect, that is a juvenile question. It is a juvenile question that completely ignores the challenges and the opportunities we have in front of us as a nation. Firstly, for the good news. We are here, at the heart of the Asia-Pacific, able to take advantage of the opportunities that come from being in the part of the world where most of the global economic growth will be generated for the next few decades. We are also dealing with global economic headwinds. You would have to be under a rock in order not to realise that there has been a change in demand out of China for iron ore and that there has been a related effect on a commodity that represents about 20 per cent of our national export income.

The truth of the matter is that this government, the Turnbull government, building on the progress made under the Abbott government, is working every day to put Australia on a stronger economic and fiscal foundation for the future. We are not getting any help from those opposite. In fact, those opposite want to hit the economy for six by bringing back the turbo charge carbon tax. (Time expired)

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.