Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline the importance of building a strong and prosperous economy? Particularly, what does this mean for families in my electorate of Lyons and around Australia?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Lyons for his question. He has proved to be an indefatigable advocate for his community in every way, and a great advocate for business and families.

While today's job figures are extraordinary and disappointing, the fact remains that since we came to government we have seen job growth at three times the speed of what it was under Labor in their last year of government. And what does a strong economy mean for everyday Australians? It means more jobs, greater growth and greater opportunity.

In terms of jobs, one of the ways you can help to create more jobs is to lower costs, and that is exactly what we did by getting rid of the carbon tax. Electricity prices came down; gas prices came down. Lowering taxes, whether it be the carbon tax, the mining tax or delivering the abolition of the carbon tax while retaining personal income tax cuts—it all helps to deliver more jobs.

Of course our asset recycling scheme, which is an incentive to get the states moving on infrastructure, helps to create jobs. I am pleased to report to the House that I will be signing the first agreement on behalf of the government early next week. And the first signatory will be a Labor government. I will give you a tip: it is not the South Australian Labor government. So we are getting on with the job of building infrastructure with the biggest infrastructure commitment in Australia's history. No doubt about that. That helps not only to deliver jobs—of course in Victoria they have just torn up 7,000 job contracts on the East West Link—but also other infrastructure we are rolling out is going to create jobs.

Importantly, it is going to help to speed up growth in the economy. The NBN actually being delivered helps to facilitate the growth of business needs, and that is why last year we had the largest number of business start-ups in Australia's history. Ultimately this all means opportunity for everyday Australians. It means we are going to have a more prosperous future. It means we can dream and make those dreams come true. The way to do that is to facilitate that opportunity through new trade agreements—through the Korean trade agreement, through the Japanese trade agreement, through the Chinese trade agreement. We are building new markets and we are supplementing that with a more skilled workforce: a workforce that has a better education system, that is world class and has a system that provides incentives for the lowest income Australians to be able to get a trade. In simple terms: jobs, growth and opportunity—the best way to help families and small business.