Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the importance of bipartisanship to continuing economic reform?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for his very important question.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! A question has been asked. The Treasurer has been given the call. The Treasurer is responding to the question. He should be heard in silence.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For over 25 years, Australia has had a very proud record of fundamental economic reform. That fundamental economic reform has spanned three governments and it is pretty fair to say that there has been a degree of bipartisanship in that fundamental economic reform—until recently.

Let us just go through where Australia is at the moment. It was the underlying resilience of the Australian economy, as well as the timely and powerful stimulus that this government put in place, that meant this developed country avoided a recession. Part of that resilience has been due to economic reform over 25 years. There is perhaps no figure which is more important for Australians to focus on than the fact that there have been something like 360,000 jobs created in Australia in the past year alone—that is, 360,000 additional breadwinners in this economy. When you think of the fact that there have been something like 30 million jobs lost internationally, this is really a stunning record for Australia. What it means is that the Australian economy has been much more resilient in the face of global shocks than many other developed economies.

The fundamental reforms that have been put in place over the past 25 years are a very important part of that outcome. Floating the dollar was a very important part of that outcome. Putting in place international competition, deregulating the financial sector, ensuring a flow of credit to the economy and having strong financial institutions have been very important parts of that. Competition policy has also been a very important part of that. There has been bipartisan agreement on those fundamental reforms. National superannuation has been increasing our savings pool and to some extent there has been agreement here about that, although on occasions those opposite have opposed what we have done in superannuation.

What lesson this teaches us is that the reforms of today are tomorrow’s prosperity. What this government is putting in place through tax reform, through lower corporate rates, investment in infrastructure through the NBN, and what we are doing to introduce a price on carbon is tomorrow’s prosperity. Unfortunately we are not seeing the same degree of bipartisanship that we have seen in the past and which is so essential to Australia’s prosperity.

I know Mr Costello and Mr Howard do not see eye-to-eye much these days, but they can agree on one thing: their economic legacy is at risk from all of the irresponsible people opposite. They can certainly agree on that. For our part, the government will concentrate on fundamental economic reform to support jobs and prosperity for all Australians.