Jim Chalmers Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
2:54 pm
My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer confirm that on his watch Australia is experiencing the slowest annual economic growth since the global financial crisis?
Josh Frydenberg Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer
I can confirm that on our watch the Australian economy continues to grow, that we continue to reduce taxes and that employment growth is 2.6 per cent. Do you know what it was when we came into government? It was 0.7 per cent—less than a third of what it is today. A record number of Australians are now in work. Workforce participation is at a record high. The gender pay gap has closed and the budget is coming back to surplus for the first time in more than a decade. When you look at the national accounts, economic growth was 0.5 per cent for the June quarter and 1.9 per cent in year average terms. The Australian economy has completed 28 consecutive years of economic growth, and on our watch more people are employed than ever before.