James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House why it is important to take responsible and considered decisions when it comes to economic and financial management in the face of challenging economic circumstances? Is the Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Sturt for his question. As I reported, together with the health minister and the Treasurer, just before question time, the coronavirus's impact is ongoing. There are many things that remain unknown in relation to not only the coronavirus's health impacts, not just here in Australia but around the world, but of course the coronavirus's economic impacts being felt here domestically. The government is continuing to monitor very closely and respond, based on the best possible health advice in relation to what is a global health crisis, and we will continue working with states and territories to ensure that we can provide the best possible responses.

Australians are also dealing more generally with the response to fires, to floods and to drought, and the government has responded in each and all of these cases, whether it was the North Queensland floods of a year ago; the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and the $2 billion commitment that we've provided, without putting a levy on the Australian people to provide that disaster response; and the more than $7 billion in support and commitment that we've been providing to our rural and regional communities as the drought has continued to ravage so many parts of this country.

It's true to say that the Australian economy, with the Australian people, has had its fair share of damaging impacts, particularly in recent times and in recent years, and we certainly don't need any more. We are not immune from these things, but we are well prepared. Our government, over the course of the last six years, has been ensuring that, as we go into these very difficult crises that we've been managing in recent times, our sensible and disciplined economic management has been putting Australia in the best possible place to deal with these types of crises. When we do things in a disciplined and responsible way, we think them through. Where we have goals to create jobs, we have plans to create jobs and we implement those plans to create jobs. When we go to the Australian people and we say we've got record funding to put in schools and hospitals and to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme, we have careful, disciplined budget management so the Australian people know we can deliver on those commitments, which we are. That's what careful, disciplined, responsible economic management is based on.

The leader of the Labor Party does not embrace that approach. Sure, he's got a proposal to commit to a net zero carbon target by 2050—30 years from now—but he can't even tell the Australian people what he'd do 10 years from now, not 30 years. But the real problem with the Leader of the Opposition's approach is that he has no plan to deliver it, he can't tell the Australian people what it would cost and he can't explain to them what the implications will be for them. It is a rash plan, it is an ill-considered plan, it is a plan that has not been thought through, and the Australian people would— (Time expired)