Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Kemp. Will the minister outline to the Senate the measures the Howard government has implemented to improve the economic wellbeing of Australian families.

Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for that very important question and for his continuing interest in the wellbeing of Australian families. To have such a question from Senator Barnett is no surprise at all. As the Senate knows, helping families is one of the highest priorities of the Howard government. After 10 years of responsible management of the economy, the coalition, I am pleased to say, has delivered unprecedented levels of support, practical benefits and services for families and older Australians. By paying back the $96 billion debt left by the Labor Party we are saving around $8 billion a year in interest payments alone. That $8 billion can now be invested in Australian families. This side of the chamber is committed to helping families find an appropriate balance between work and family. Unlike members of the Labor Party, we make decisions to implement policies that provide real benefits for Australians and families, not just the union bosses.

Australian families, including low-income families, are much better off today. This was one of the themes of Senator Minchin in his response to a question earlier today. We on this side of the chamber know that one of the best ways for Australians to improve their own and their families’ wellbeing and to address disadvantage is through employment. Our policies have built a strong, growing and stable economy and have provided Australians with the opportunities and assistance they need to gain employment. Senator Minchin mentioned the enormous job creation that has occurred since we came into government. The unemployment rate has fallen from 8.2 per cent in 1996 to 4.8 per cent today. Let us not forget that the unemployment rate, which peaked under Labor—I repeat: the unemployment rate, which peaked under Labor—at 10.9 per cent, has now fallen to 4.8 per cent under the coalition government, which is the lowest rate of unemployment since November 1976. Since March 1996, real wages have grown by over 16 per cent. Consider the pathetic growth in real wages in the 13 long years of the Labor government—and Senator George Campbell, I think, in an excellent paper published a number of years ago pointed out the very slow growth in real wages under the Labor government.

The government has very strongly increased its support for families. In the 2006-07 budget, spending on family tax benefit part A, as a result of increasing the income threshold and extending the large family supplement, increased by more than $1.4 billion over four years. Since 1996, this government has doubled assistance to families through the family tax benefit system.

This government has an extraordinarily proud record in assistance to families. It has a comprehensive range of policies, a number of which were mentioned in the remarks by Senator Minchin earlier today. This is a government that knows where it is going. This is a government that the Australian people know is a very strong supporter of families. I have to say that, when they think of the contrast between this government and the government that went before and the policy-free zone of the Labor Party, they know who is on the side of Australian families. (Time expired)