Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm for her question and for her support for businesses in her electorate. The Australian economy is growing at 3.1 per cent. This is faster than all of the G7 nations—the largest, most advanced economies in the world. But this growth can't be taken for granted, because Australia has to compete on the world stage. Our companies have to compete in the international marketplace. That's why the coalition government has an economic plan to keep our economy strong, growing, resilient and competitive. That's why we have provided tax relief for businesses and employers, while we're putting downward pressure on electricity prices, while we're finding new markets for our goods and services and while we're ensuring that Australia is still an attractive destination for foreign investment.

And our plan is working. In the 12 months to last July, over 300,000 more Australians were in work, and we were creating over 1,000 new jobs a day. So it is working.

But we have to ensure that we remain an attractive destination for foreign direct investment, because data released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that one in 10 Australian jobs is supported by foreign direct investment. Let me give you an example.

Today I met with the CEO of Japan's INPEX Corporation, Mr Ueda. They are developing one of the largest LNG projects in the world in Australia. It is the largest Japanese investment outside of Japan, ever. This will have enormous ramifications across the economy. Already they're employing, directly, 11,000 Australians. There are over 1,000 businesses engaged in just this one project. And already—

Mr Conroy interjecting—

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