Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

As we talk about glass jaws, the fact is those opposite printed the mugs. They're pretty embarrassed about it—that's why they're jumping to their feet the moment anyone mentions it. They never delivered a surplus. Labor has delivered two back-to-back surpluses. We've kept average real spending growth to 1.7 per cent. What about their average real spending growth? It was 4.1 per cent. We have found more than $100 billion in savings since coming to government. Those opposite talk about hard choices—what was the hard choice that they came to the last election with? A $600 billion nuclear plan, delivering less than four per cent of Australia's electricity needs, in decades. They took a plan to the last election that would not have turned on a light for 20 years. It would have pushed up energy bills by $1,200 a year and would have involved spending more.

They took another policy to the last election—their long lunches for bosses policy. Who remembers that wonderful policy? A policy they were so proud of that by the end of the campaign they weren't talking about it. If every eligible business had claimed the maximum, the cost would have been more than $10 billion. What would it have done for productivity? It would have driven productivity down. That's what happens when you take long lunches. So we're taking no lectures from those opposite about budget sustainability and about productivity.

The other side talk about the importance of lower taxes, but to the last election they took a policy of higher taxes. They were going to increase income taxes on every single Australian. They talk about not burdening future generations, but the fact is that their policies of scrapping net zero and putting their heads in the sand on climate change are the very epitome of handing the burden on to future generations. They'll say one thing when they're talking to business and another thing when they're talking in the House. The Leader of the Opposition this week was speaking at an Australian Industry Group event and she described the Treasurer's economic reform roundtable as being 'a welcome conversation' and 'a constructive discussion'. And then the Deputy Leader of the Opposition comes in here and tells us that it was a socialist summit. Yes, you got us on that one—the kind of socialist summit where you invite along the Business Council of Australia, ACCI, AiG, COSBOA, a current banker and a former banker or two!

The fact is that those opposite talk a lot about spending restraint, but, at the last election, their costings revealed deficits $7.9 billion higher over the first two years. Bigger deficits, bigger debt and a $600 billion nuclear plan was what they took to the Australian people last election. You just need to compare the track records to see what coalition rhetoric produces compared to what Labor's delivered in office. Payments as a share of GDP rose under the coalition from 23.9 per cent of GDP in 2012-13 to 26.4 per cent of GDP in 2021-22, and payments as a share of GDP were forecast to be above 27 per cent in the 2022 Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Gross debt as a share of GDP was forecast to peak just under 45 per cent of GDP in the 2022 Pre-election and Economic Fiscal Outlook. It is now, thanks to Labor's tough decisions, forecast to peak at around 37 per cent of GDP. We've delivered those surpluses, we've reduced coalition deficits and debt will now peak lower as a share of GDP than it would have done if the coalition had stayed in office.

Debt now is $177 billion lower, saving some $60 billion in interest costs as a consequence. Real payments growth is less than half the average under our predecessors. The budget position has improved by more than $207 billion. We have turned two big Liberal deficits into two Labor surpluses and almost halved the deficit in our third year. We have done that while ensuring that the Australian people have seen better economic outcomes. We've kept unemployment low. We have ensured that the minimum wage has increased for low-paid Australians. While we're seeing unemployment in Canada of 6.9 per cent, in New Zealand of 5.1 per cent and in the UK of 4.7 per cent, here unemployment is sitting at just 4.2 per cent. We've recorded stronger employment growth since the 2022 election than any major advanced economy.

We have seen progress made on inflation, which has resulted in interest rates being cut three times in six months. For a household with a $700,000 mortgage, that means they're saving about $330 a month or around $4,000 a year. Since Labor came to office, inflation is down, debt is down, real wages are growing, unemployment is low and interest rates are falling.

We know we have more to do, and that's why the Treasurer brought together the economic reform roundtable in the cabinet room last week. Along with the Assistant Treasurer, I was pleased to join that three-day roundtable. It was a constructive discussion where participants took off their sectional interest hats and put on their national interest hats—well, maybe with the exception of the shadow Treasurer. It was a conversation in which attendees acknowledged the productivity challenge that we face, productivity growth being the worst in the post-war debt era in that decade ending in 2020. We know that we were left with a significant productivity challenge, and we need to turn that around.

In doing so, we can take a leaf from sport. Sport shows us that we don't need to make a trade-off between excellence and fairness. Sport shows us the importance of dynamism and the value of having a lot of different teams competing in a competition. But, in some parts of our economy, we have too few firms and market concentration that's gotten worse, rather than better. If sport were like some sectors of the economy, we'd have one team, one set of fans and one very bored mascot. Sport teaches us the importance of inclusion. Sport shows us that, by including those who grow up on the wrong side of the tracks, by creating more opportunities for women and by ensuring that people have a chance to play, we get better results. Those who play enjoy it more, and it's a better result for the fans. That's the approach that Labor takes when it comes to a productive economy. Our free TAFE program is about inclusion. Our programs to champion more low-SES students getting a spot in uni are about inclusion, too.

The work we've done to ensure that aged-care workers and early childhood workers are fairly paid is reflected in the understanding that sport is strong when the players are fairly paid. Australia does fabulously well on the sporting field, but it's thanks not just to our sportspeople but to the institutions that support them—the Australian Institute of Sport, the great coaches that we have, the talent scouts that are out there and the sustaining work that we do making sure that we prevent injury. All of that can teach us about getting more productive education, health and economic systems. Labor is committed to a more productive economy and a more inclusive society.

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