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

(—) (): I thank Senator Bushby for that question. Since we last met, there have been some important updates on Australia's economic performance and our performance when it comes to employment creation. What these numbers show is that the government's long-term economic plan for stronger growth and more jobs is working. The national accounts released earlier this month show, for example, that Australia has one of the fastest-growing economies in the developed world. Australia's economy is growing faster than any economy in the G7. Of course these things have not happened by accident. These things have happened because this government has worked hard to turn around the situation that we inherited from our predecessors. When you look at the jobs numbers, for example, nearly 300,000 new jobs have been created since we came into government: 111,000 since the beginning of this year, over 22,200 every month, which is six times as many as in the last year of Labor. Of course, when we came into government, when we inherited a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a rapidly deteriorating budget position, we implemented our plan for stronger growth and more jobs and to repair the budget mess that Labor left behind. We got rid of the job-destroying carbon tax. We got rid of the mining tax. We reduced the red tape cost for business by more than $2 billion per year. We rolled out a record infrastructure investment program, investing in our future economic growth. Of course, the Minister for the Environment has made rapid approvals for projects worth about $1 trillion—projects that were lingering on Labor's desk when they were in government. That is, of course, how you strengthen growth and create more jobs— (Time expired)