Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Gichuhi. A sustainable welfare system is a fair welfare system. Often, having a good economic policy and a good social policy will be presented by some in this place as alternatives: you either have to choose a good economic policy or a good social policy. The fact is that they're two sides of the one coin—that you need a good economic policy to sustain and support a good social policy; that, when you're talking about good economic policy and good social policy, it's a little bit like breathing in and breathing out: breathing in is good economic policy; breathing outside good social policy. What this government has demonstrated since 2013—since it was elected—is that the way to ensure a good social policy for all Australians is to make sure that you have a good economic policy, and that's what this government's doing.