Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister: will the Acting Prime Minister update the House on recent data that highlights the strength of the Australian economy? How does this compare with developments overseas?

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

I thank the member for Deakin for that very important question. All Australians have justifiable reason to be proud of the remarkable economic achievements of Australia. These achievements have occurred in some of the worst global conditions since the global financial crisis and, of course, the global recession.

There is no doubt that when it comes to the developed world, the Australian economy is the standout performer. That is occurring at a time when many developed economies are experiencing mass unemployment, but there are more Australians in work here than there have ever been at any time in our history. There have been something like 800,000 jobs created in Australia since this government came to power—and that is in the face of the extraordinary challenges that we are experiencing emanating from Europe, particularly at the moment. And that is why the Prime Minister will make this point at the G20 meeting: how important it is, particularly for the policymakers of the European region, to put in place policy reforms which will boost growth and restore the sustainability of public finances in the eurozone. We need to see consistent and determinate action from the Europeans to ensure that growth is restored.

No economy is immune from the turmoil in Europe, but here in Australia we have been a beacon of strength compared to what is going on elsewhere in the developed world. So much so that the Australian economy is now 10 per cent larger than it was prior to the global financial crisis. What a substantial achievement that is for Australia, when you consider that there is barely a developed economy that has got back to where it began at the beginning of the global financial crisis. Everybody on this side of the House cheers that performance.

Those on the other side of the House were so embarrassed when the national accounts came out two weeks ago that they were in the stand booing the performance of the Australian economy. No-one was more disappointed with those results than the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer over there on that side of the House. On Tuesday, the shadow Treasurer said that the Australian economy was underperforming, and then on Wednesday he said the performance was extraordinary—what a backflip! Underperforming one day, extraordinary the next—but it was not a backflip, it was just a big belly flop, Madam Deputy Speaker. No-one was more embarrassed than the shadow Treasurer. On this side of the House, we celebrate the fact that we have the best combination of growth—strong growth, strong employment growth, strong investment—with contained inflation and interest rates coming down. This is a great result for Australia, but it is one that those opposite do not support and continually run down.