Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

If the member for Shortland wants a history lesson, he should stay in the chamber; I might give him a couple of facts and figures. When in government last time, that side dropped defence spending as a percentage of GDP to the lowest level in this nation since 1938—and we all know what happened in 1939. That is a fact.

I'm the member for a garrison town, Wagga Wagga, where all three arms of the Defence Force proudly serve with bases. We've got Kapooka, home of the soldier, where every young and not-so-young recruit goes to do their basic training. We've got the Air Force, and if you spend any given time in the RAAF, you end up at Forest Hill. We've even got a Navy base, even though we're many hundreds of kilometres from the nearest drop of sea water.

We are investing in defence like no government before. We are investing in defence as a government right across this nation, with 70 defence vessels and 1,700 vehicles being built in Australia, with Australian hands, with Australian products; and with 100,000 defence industry jobs created and 15,000 small and medium businesses supported. We as a government are putting money back into defence, not like that lot. They deserted our ADF in their hour of need, but we are putting the investment back where it's properly needed so that our defence people, those proud people who wear the khaki and the blue and the white uniforms when they are on patrol and when they are on peacekeeping missions, can have the very best equipment. They know that they have a government which has their back.

We all know that actions speak louder than words. We are generally judged not by what we say but by what we do. I'm going to read a couple of quotes from somebody about this very topic at hand. The most important test of a government is how it backs and supports jobs. We are backed and supported by the words from this person, who said, 'You judge a budget by jobs and opportunities and what it says about the future'. He also added:

That is absolutely the key test. The government, the opposition, any decision-maker in the economy, should be judged on what happens to unemployment …

This was said in 2020:

The test for this budget is what it means for unemployment. If unemployment is too high for too long, then this budget and this Government would have failed its central task.

There's a theme here:

The test of the Morrison Government's management of the recession and its aftermath is what happens to jobs and the businesses which create them.

I couldn't agree more! He also added that a test was 'whether or not unemployment stays too high for too long'. Finally, he said, 'I expect that that will be the main issue at this election: what happens to jobs.' The member for McEwen is onto who I'm referring to: it's the shadow Treasurer, the member for Rankin.

I absolutely agree with him. It is all about jobs. That is why, when we came to government with the unemployment rate at 5.7 per cent and rising, we knew had to do something. We knew that we had to help businesses. It's not government that creates jobs. It's businesspeople, farmers and those small businesses that open the doors, take the risks and take out the big debts to help employ Australians. And what's the rate now? 4.2 per cent. What is it in regional Australia? It's 3.8 per cent. There are 70,000 jobs in regional Australia going right now. There are vacancies that need filling and we're doing something about it with all the measures that we're putting in place.

Most importantly, those people who have jobs are paying less tax. Under that mob, if they get the Treasury benches after the next election, goodness knows how much tax they'll be paying. At the moment the tax rate for small business is the lowest it's been in decades. Indeed, for personal income tax payers we are lowering taxes all the time. They stand for higher taxes. They stand for fewer jobs. We are the ones who support the economy. We are the ones who support Australian Defence Force people. Indeed, at the last election what did they stand for? $387 billion of higher taxes: a retiree's tax, a superannuation tax and a housing tax. That's what they stand for. If Australians want to risk the future of this nation, vote 1 Labor, because that's what will happen. But, if they want to back a government that's going to support lower taxes, it's the Liberals and Nationals they should put a 1 beside.

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