David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann, representing the Treasurer. Will the minister update the Senate on progress in building a stronger, more prosperous economy?

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

I am pleased to advise Senator Bushby and the Senate that we are making progress, heading in the right direction, as we are working through our transition from resource investment and construction driven growth to broader drivers of economic activity and growth. The Australian economy is growing more strongly now than it was when we came into government in 2013. More jobs continue to be created, and our unemployment rate today is materially lower than what was anticipated would be the case today when Labor lost government in 2013. Over the past year, our economy grew by three per cent, up from just two per cent growth during Labor's last year in office. More than 400,000 jobs have been created in the economy since we came into government and, over the past 12 months, more than 10 times as many jobs were created in our economy than in Labor's last year in office.

This has not happened by accident. Since our election in 2013, the government has pursued reforms to help ensure the Australian economy transitions as successfully as possible from resource investment driven growth to broader drivers of growth. We have worked to ensure that our economy is as competitive, productive, innovative and agile as possible. We have worked to help business to be the most successful they can be so they can employ more Australians.

We have worked to make our tax system or growth-friendly by abolishing the mining tax, by abolishing the carbon tax and by delivering tax cuts for small business, and in this year's budget there will of course be a further instalment in our effort to make our tax system more growth-friendly. We have worked to reduce the cost of doing business, through an ambitious deregulation agenda. We have worked to help our exporting businesses get better access to key markets in our region. We have export agreements with China, Korea and Japan, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, all designed to help our exporters be more successful and employ more Australians.

David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. How do the government's policies help to drive growth and jobs?

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

Removing taxes like that the carbon tax and the mining tax, reducing the level of regulation and improving the regulation, opening trade and investing in innovation and infrastructure—these are all helping us to maintain strong growth in the face of global volatility. These are all our initiatives: our ambitious infrastructure investment program; our ambitious Innovation and Science Agenda; our work to invest in our defence capability; and the work we are doing to ensure the NBN project is on track by upgrading three in four premises by June 2018. All of these initiatives and reforms have been progressing. All will help to make Australian businesses more successful and will, of course, help them to employ more Australians.

We are working to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission, to improve competitiveness and remove unnecessary costs out of the construction industry. As soon as the Senate has dealt with the very important reforms, when we come back in May the Senate will have the opportunity to consider that legislation. (Time expired)

David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

When we came into government we inherited from Labor a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a budget position that was rapidly deteriorating, after Labor in their period in government kept putting more and more lead into our saddlebags. What is very clear is that Labor have not learnt the lessons of the past. They are still at it. They are still wanting to tax more. In their year of ideas, all they come up with is more new taxes aimed squarely at the Australian families, families working to get ahead. Labor's so-called policy on negative gearing is all about making it harder for families across Australia to get ahead—families who are leveraging their existing income and their existing assets to invest in new assets and to increase their income by deducting from their existing income the cost of investing in housing or in shares, as they currently can. Labor's approach will be bad for the economy and bad for families, and we hope it will be rejected by the Australian people at the next election.