Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, will you outline how the government is building jobs, growth and opportunity and how will this assist all Australians?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is more good news for Australia, and I thank the honourable member for McMillan—who is indeed an honourable man—for his question. I say to the parliament: there has been more good news today. On the back of the fact that under this government three times the number of jobs have been created every day than were created under the previous Labor government, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released data that confirms that the average weekly wage in Australia has now risen to $76,800—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry—the average wage in Australia—

Opposition members interjecting —

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We seem to be having the usual Thursday behaviour and we can just do without it. We will have some silence in the chamber so we can hear answers of questions when they have been asked.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The average wage in Australia has now increased to $76,800 a year. It increased by 2.8 per cent this year, so that works out at $1,476.30 a week. With the higher wages comes greater prosperity.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The cacophony will cease!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Importantly, I remind the House—and I think the member for McMahon should listen carefully to this—that the second highest tax threshold kicks in at $80,000 and the rate is 37c. So, obviously, within a couple of years it is entirely possible that someone working in Australia earning average wages would be in the second highest tax threshold. That starts to detract from growth in the economy because the more we tax individuals the slower the economy ends up being.

We want to give Australians more money and more jobs, and that is one of the reasons why we are so pleased with the announcement today from Qantas that they are not only back in profit but they have made a very good profit. They have turned around $619 million in one year, and they have been able to do that on the back of a more prosperous economy but also getting rid of the carbon tax, which is $59 million. It is not just Qantas. McMillan Shakespeare—Australia's largest provider of salary packaging and novated leasing, employing 850 Australians—announced that they were back in profit. There has been a 62 per cent increase in their profit despite the fact that the previous Labor government wanted to close down the leasing industry when it was last in government. We are the party for jobs; we are the party for prosperity.