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

The only thing that is floundering, as I said yesterday, is Labor's socialist economic agenda, which was comprehensively rejected by the Australian people at the last election. There are always various comments that are issued by various banks. I could refer you to the UBS analysis, which has suggested that, in the September quarter, growth is expected to nearly double compared to the June quarter, on the back of our income tax cuts. You know what our income tax cuts have done? They've put $15 billion more money into workers' pockets. They have increased the take-home pay of workers around Australia. You would have thought that the Labor Party would say that's a good thing.

Of course the Australian economy is facing headwinds. Of course we are facing global economic headwinds. And other substantial economies around the world, like Germany, the United Kingdom and others, are actually going backwards. We are continuing to grow. The reason we're continuing to grow is because of our plan to build a stronger economy, and it's because fiscal policy and monetary policy are working in the same direction. As well as lower interest rates, we've got lower income taxes, we've got more investment in infrastructure and we've got an ambitious free-trade agenda helping our exporting businesses sell more Australian products and services around the world, which is very ably prosecuted by none other than the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, my good friend and colleague Senator Birmingham. We've got an ambitious agenda to reduce the regulatory burden on business to make it easier for business to be successful and hire more Australians.

Let me tell you: these sorts of questions show that the Australian Labor Party still does not accept the verdict of the Australian people at the last election. All of these arguments were put to the Australian people in the lead-up to the last election. And you know what? They opted for our plan of lower taxes—pro growth, pro business, pro jobs—and they voted against your socialist agenda and the politics of envy. (Time expired)