Today marks the eleventh anniversary of the election of the Coalition Government.
Australia today is a more prosperous, optimistic and outward-looking nation than it was on March 2, 1996. We are more confident about who we are and what we stand for.
Since the election of the Coalition Government, the Australian economy has grown by 40 per cent into a $1 trillion powerhouse, a model economy and the envy of the developed world.
The attached figures show how Australia has progressed over the past 11 years and underlines the improvement in the quality of life of Australian families.
Australians are reaping the benefits of the Coalition's economic management, with official figures revealing since 1996 Australians:
* doubled household net wealth.
* pay $16 billion a year less tax;
* outlay five per cent less on average in mortgage interest rates;
* have seen their real wages increase by 17.9 per cent, compared to a fall in real wages under Labor; and
* enjoy far greater opportunities to find a job, with more than two million jobs created.
My Government has also introduced major social reforms, including strengthening of the health system through the support for Medicare and private health insurance, entrenching the principle of mutual responsibility through such programs as Work-for-the-Dole and beneficial changes to family law through the introduction of Family Relationship Centres.
The Government's economic management and reforms and the commitment and effort of Australian workers has delivered a national economy in far better shape than in 1996:
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