Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

This is a government with a very strong track record of economic reform. Our economic reforms and our plan for stronger growth and more jobs have not only delivered better opportunities for Australians to get ahead but have also had a very beneficial impact on our budget bottom line. And do you know what happens when you have stronger growth and more jobs? You end up getting more revenue on the back of more people in jobs—not on the back of jacking up taxes, as the Labor Party wants to do, but on the back of more people in paid work. More people in paid work, paying more in personal income tax, means more revenue for the government—which we can then invest in the essential services Australians expect—and less expenditure on welfare payments as more people move from welfare into work. That is surely a good thing, and that is why in 2017-18 we delivered a budget bottom line $19.3 billion better than was forecast when the budget was delivered a year and a half ago.