JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Yesterday’s National Accounts showed the remarkable resilience of the Australian economy. We’re in our 29th consecutive year of economic growth, we’ve maintained our AAA credit rating, we’ve seen strong labour market performance with more than 1.4 million new jobs being created. Indeed, employment growth in Australia is at 2 per cent, which is around three times what we inherited when we came to Government and more than double the OECD average.
But Australia does face challenging global and domestic economic headwinds; we’ve seen trade tensions continue between the United States and China and the IMF have said that if they’re not resolved next year, that will wipe $700 billion off global GDP. And we’ve also seen the devastating drought here at home which is affecting 95 per cent of New South Wales and two thirds of Queensland. Obviously, the Government has responded with commitments of more than $1 billion since the election to support those communities.
So we’ll continue to be considered, to be disciplined, to be responsible economic managers and the Australian people can be confident about their economic future under the Coalition.
QUESTION:
(inaudible) growth remains below the RBA’s target?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Obviously, we put in the Budget that growth would be at 2.75 per cent and we’ll update our forecasts at MYEFO time. But what we will continue to see is jobs growth, we’ll continue to see economic growth, we’ll continue to see Australia perform well compared to other economies around the world.
QUESTION:
Treasurer, what was the deal done with Miss Lambie on the Medivac laws?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The Prime Minister was asked this at a press conference yesterday and he was very clear that the only commitment that we have given is to implement our policies.
QUESTION:
Does that policy include a written guarantee that asylum seekers will be transferred off Manus Island and Nauru?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again the Prime Minister was asked yesterday about how we are trying to resettle (inaudible). What we have in place in Nauru and in Manus is significant support, health support, for people who are there. But let’s go back to what has been the result of our tough border protection policies. We have removed every child out of detention, closed seventeen detention centres and we’ve saved lives that would have otherwise been lost at sea. The Australian people can rely on the Coalition as we have done to restore integrity to our borders.
QUESTION:
Has the New Zealand offer been taken up?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Our policy is being implemented. And as I said in relation to New Zealand or other speculation, our only commitment that has been given is to implement our existing policies.
QUESTION:
Has Miss Lambie misunderstood the situation of the agreement because she’s quite adamant that a deal has been struck?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I couldn’t be more clear. What we have committed to is to implement our policies. Obviously, we would like to resettle people at Nauru and Manus and the number of people have been resettled including in the United States. But, our focus is to ensure the integrity of our border policies and that’s what we continue to do.
QUESTION:
Does the Australian taxpayer know what the cost has actually been to have detention centres in the first place? This whole program since 2009, what has it cost the taxpayer in billion dollar terms?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s cost billions of dollars to see the Budget blow outs of Labor’s failed border protection policies. Let’s not forget under John Howard, he effectively stopped the boats. Despite Kevin Rudd promising upon coming to Government that the tough approach to border protection would continue, that’s not what we saw. We saw 50,000 unauthorised arrivals come to these shores and tragically we saw people lose their lives at sea. When we came to Government, we restored the integrity to our borders and we have ensured that people’s lives have not been lost at sea and importantly, all children have been removed from detention.
Thank you.