Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the debate, and in particular I imagine that it's probably not unusual to expect that Labor will continually talk but not listen. I think that the Prime Minister and leader of the Senate have said on several occasions that our government has provided certainty, that we are seeing stability. We have a plan that we took to the Australian people, a plan that we put in our budget, a plan that foresaw these challenges that Australia was going to face. We are a government that is steadfastly getting on with implementing that plan.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Labor is a group who wouldn't understand the challenges of business, who wouldn't understand how serious these challenges are and that these are expected challenges. The IMF has noted that the global economy is in a synchronised slowdown. It has downgraded global growth for 2019 to three per cent. This subdued growth reflects trade and political uncertainty, which is weighing on confidence and investment, and Australia is not immune from these challenges. Nevertheless, we remain well placed to meet these headwinds.

In 2019, Australia is forecast to grow faster than any G7 economy except the US, while Germany, UK and Singapore have had negative economic growth in the June quarter. Jobs growth of 2.5 per cent through the year is stronger than any G7 economy and more than double the OECD average of 0.9 per cent—compared to 0.7 per cent in 2013. We do have a strong budget position that supports our economic resilience. Our budget is back in balance, whereas major advanced economies are averaging deficits of 3.8 per cent, and we're paying down net debt currently around a quarter of the G7 average.

But again, I don't expect that Labor would understand the challenges to business and the economy; it is not in their DNA. In fact, when Senator Ayres rose to ask a question regarding regional unemployment in the great state of Queensland, my home state, I was amazed that he did not understand that unemployment in regional Queensland is a direct result of what happens when you have a Labor government. It is the Labor government in Queensland that has raised the state's debt to a shocking $90 billion. That is just an extraordinary number and a massive noose and weight around the neck of our state. It is a state that is spending more on public servant jobs than ever before. It is a state that provides no certainty to business. It is a state that increasingly regulates for any activity that businesses are trying to undertake. It is a state that constantly moves the goalposts, whether it be on mining projects or—incredibly shockingly in this time of drought—Emu Swamp Dam. That is a dam that is needed urgently, critically, for the Stanthorpe area, yet the state government continues to play games. It is the state Labor government in Queensland that doesn't understand how to get jobs going, how to get certainty going, how to get growth going. I am surprised that Senator Ayres would raise that, because it is my very dear ambition that we remove the state Labor government in Queensland because it is doing no good for our state. We know that that is where uncertainty and bad economic outcomes happen—when businesses are not able to get on with the job of employing people.

The economy is not some beast that magically sits in the corner of the room. It is something that happens when small businesses, big businesses and people take out a mortgage, they take a risk and they employ somebody else. It is hard work. It is the sort of thing where you go to bed with a stone in your stomach. Small businesses are the backbone and the engine room of this country, and yet Labor's policies that they took to the election would have provided increased electricity prices, increased uncertainty, massive new taxes and increased debt for this country. So on those notes, I urge Senator Ayres to work with me to remove the state Labor government in Queensland.