Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on how the government's plan to keep our economy strong is guaranteeing the essential services Australian families rely on, without raising taxes? Is the Treasurer aware of any risks to the future prosperity of Australian families?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Berowra for his question. He's a hardworking local member who supports a strong economy. When the Liberal and National government came to power, we inherited an economy where unemployment was going up, investment was in freefall and debt was growing at more than 30 per cent per year, locking in decades of recklessly high government spending growth. In contrast, after five years of hard decisions at the ERC and across government, we have seen unemployment fall to five per cent. We have created more than one million new jobs. We have had our AAA credit rating reaffirmed by the leading credit-rating agencies. We've also seen wages increase, with the biggest jump in three years, and we've seen GDP growth of 3.4 per cent through the year, which is the fastest rate since the height of the mining boom.

As the Prime Minister has told this place, the next budget we deliver will be a budget surplus. That is in stark contrast to those opposite, because the last time the Labor Party delivered a budget surplus was 1989. The Berlin Wall was still standing. Taylor Swift was born. The last time Labor delivered a budget surplus was 1989. I thought to myself, 'What went wrong with those four surpluses that the member for Lilley announced in this chamber?' I found the answer in this book, Kevin Rudd: the PM Years. This is what Kevin Rudd had to say about the member for Lilley. He said the member for Lilley lacked 'cerebral horsepower' and the 'basic level of intellectual software capable of being trained'. That is what Kevin Rudd, the former Labor Prime Minister, thought of the member for Lilley.

We are growing the Australian economy. We are creating jobs. We are cutting taxes. The choice at the next election will be between a Labor Party and $200 billion of higher taxes and a Liberal-National government that has delivered lower unemployment and more than 1.1 million new jobs.