It is great to see so many of my colleagues here to pay tribute to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and to salute the work that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry does.
Can I say at the outset to your President, Peter Hood – Peter, thank you so much for your splendid presidential address.
You made a very important comment I thought - that by any fair measure it’s been a successful year for the Government.
In politics there are no fair measures, but I am not complaining. It is an absolute privilege to be in a position to help guide the destiny of our nation and it’s also an absolute pleasure to be here amongst so many fine Australians tonight.
I speak to many people who want government to be bigger.
It’s good to speak tonight with people who want government to be better.
There are always people telling government to spend more money.
That’s why it’s so good to be with people who understand that every dollar government spends comes from taxpayers – and that’s why not a single one should ever be wasted.
This Chamber, over the course of many, many years and to successive governments, has put the case for lower taxes, greater choice and less red tape.
You understand that a nation’s wealth is produced by businesses and by people, not by government.
You understand that the foundation of a strong society is a strong economy, driven by profitable and competitive private businesses.
I applaud you for your courage and for your consistency.
You said that the carbon tax was bad for jobs and for families – and you were right.
You said that the mining tax would tarnish and damage our most profitable industry – and you were right.
You said that removing the Australian Building and Construction Commission would harm the productivity and competitiveness of the building industry – and again, you were right.
You don’t try to straddle both sides of the fence.
And like you, this Government does understand that profitable businesses are the foundation of a strong economy and a cohesive society.
We know – this Government knows – that you do speak for Australian business.
You speak on behalf of 300,000 businesses which employ over four million of our fellow Australians.
Many of your members have mortgaged their homes to employ their staff and we salute you for that.
Your members are big businesses and small business, united in the belief that free enterprise is the engine of a strong economy.
And our goal as a Government is the same as yours: to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia.
This year, the Government has been putting in place the foundations for a stronger economy in which all Australians can get ahead.
There’s been the Budget – government living within its means.
The Competitiveness Agenda – playing to our strengths as a nation.
The Free Trade Agreements with Japan, Korea and China – helping Australian exporters and consumers.
And the repeal of the Carbon Tax – making the average household $550 a year better off.
There’s been trade missions to eight nations and over 100,000 new jobs.
This is government putting in place the foundations of future growth and prosperity.
Our approach – this Government’s approach – starts with changing the way we govern.
We’ve had the first ever days to repeal legislation – not just pass it.
This year, we’ve scrapped over 11,000 unnecessary laws and regulations.
We’ve taken over 50,000 pages from the statute book and put them into the history book.
And since the election, we’ve cut over $2 billion in the compliance costs faced by business every year.
Nearly half a million small businesses are now exempt from pay-as-you-go tax which saves you time and money.
But this is just the start.
Next year, we aim to collect far less “nice to have” information and to get government forms down to manageable size.
The Government is prepared to trust people more because this will make it easier for people to run their lives and for managers to run their businesses.
In our DNA, we know that people are mostly trying to do the right thing rather than the wrong thing.
That’s why our instinct is always for smaller government and bigger citizens.
Now, over the past few weeks, as you all know, there’s been much international coming and going.
This is not a distraction from the main game of fixing our economy – it’s actually a vital part of it.
The G20 brought together in Brisbane leaders responsible for 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and 75 per cent of world’s trade.
And we did this understanding that you can’t have prosperity without stability and stability requires international as well as national security.
Australia shifted the focus of the G20 away from reacting to world events and towards growing the economy, strengthening jobs and encouraging growth right around the world.
We have now delivered the trifecta of trade agreements: Japan, Korea and China.
This means we now have Free Trade Agreements with ten countries that cover 73 per cent of our total exports.
And last week, in successive days, we had the leaders of the two most populous nations on earth address our Parliament.
Under the China Free Trade Agreement, tariffs will be abolished for Australia’s $13 billion dairy industry.
There will be no tariffs on Australia’s resources, energy and most manufacturing exports to China within four years.
Beef, lamb, wine, barley, horticulture and seafood will all enter China with zero tariffs.
This Free Trade Agreement gives Australian service companies room to grow into China – the world’s biggest market potentially with new access for law and financial services firms, universities and colleges, builders and aged care providers.
The Government will work closely with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to ensure that Australian companies are equipped and ready to take advantage of the opportunities before us.
Because increasingly, goods are no longer manufactured in any particular country, they’re ‘made in the world’.
Nutella, for instance, the chocolate spread that your kids and grandchildren probably enjoy. It’s made in Lithgow, New South Wales – but with hazelnuts from Turkey, sugar from Brazil, vanilla flavour from France, palm oil from Malaysia and cocoa from Nigeria.
That’s why our Free Trade Agreements need to make it easier for imports as well as exports if they are to increase trade and wealth.
So, yes, we have finally concluded the Free Trade Agreements that we set ourselves to do 12 months ago.
But we all know that Free Trade Agreements mean little if you, the businesses of our country are not competitive.
Our Competitiveness Agenda is about lower costs, higher skills and more readiness to ‘have a go’.
It’s about tackling the impediments which are holding our businesses back – like lifting the numbers of maths and science graduates and increasing the completion rates of apprentices.
Even 23 years of economic growth means little if you can’t make a deal because your costs are too high.
It means little if government red tape is blocking the approval of new projects.
But since the election, this Government has given environmental approval to new projects worth over one trillion dollars.
These were projects formally caught in the mire of a government that put Green preferences ahead of Australian jobs.
So, this Government is absolutely determined to make it easier for Australian businesses to grow and succeed – because when you grow and succeed there are more jobs, higher living standards, greater national wealth – and in fact better environmental protections too.
So an essential part of our Economic Action Strategy – and thank you Peter Hood for acknowledging this – is getting the Budget back under control.
We have seen what happens when countries devote more and more of their finances to paying interest.
It means less ability to pay for services and less capacity for tax relief.
And the key – the absolute foundation – of getting taxes down is getting spending under control.
Now, I have to say to you that in politics the ultimate cop out is to propose nothing and oppose everything.
Sooner or later this kind of tactic will be seen for what it is: not clever politics but economic vandalism.
Putting short term political interest ahead of long term national interest, talking down our country to score political points.
Now, everyone understands the importance of fiscal discipline – why else would Wayne Swan have begun his 2012 budget speech with: “The four years of surpluses that I announce tonight”.
But the former government monumentally failed to fix the fiscal problems when the terms of trade were at record highs.
Our challenge – this Government’s challenge – is to fix it in the face of declining export prices and political sabotage – but we’re up for it.
We didn’t create the problem, but we’re taking responsibility to fix it.
This Government is purposefully and methodically addressing the long term issues that our country and our economy face.
We’ve committed $50 billion to infrastructure – it’s the largest infrastructure investment in our history – to build the roads of the 21st century.
We’ve committed to reform because today’s reform is tomorrow’s prosperity and because we owe it to our children to leave them a better life than our parents left us.
No reasonable person thinks that our current tax system is the best that we can do.
No reasonable person thinks that the current dog’s breakfast of divided responsibilities is the most efficient way to run our country.
And this is a Government that is determined, to make real progress on tax reform and on fixing the Federation.
But it will only happen if the people who believe in it are prepared to fight for it.
Again I congratulate the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. You have never been just a ‘fan in the stands’ – you have always been willing to enter the field and fight for reform.
And I look forward to working with you in the future, as we have in the past.
Real reform won’t be easy. It never is.
Scrapping the mining tax – and the spending it was supposed to fund – wasn’t easy.
Scrapping the carbon tax wasn’t easy.
Breakthroughs in trade with Japan, Korea and China weren’t easy.
If they were, it would have happened sometime over the last six years.
And stopping the boats was supposed to be impossible.
But they’ve all happened because this Government didn’t go for the soft option.
Now I have to say that between 1983 and 2007, Australia was well governed by both political parties and all of us are still benefiting from that quarter century of reform.
This Government’s historical mission is to prove that the political chaos and economic backsliding of the years from 2007 to 2013 are not the new normal. Our mission is to prove that the age of reform was merely interrupted – not ended.
That’s why we’ve put our country back on the path for reform. And that’s why Peter Hood is right – 2014 has been a significant year for Australia.
So let me wrap up by thanking you for being here in Canberra tonight.
You are here in Canberra because what happens here matters.
The decisions that parliaments and governments take – or fail to take – they impact on your businesses and ultimately on the lives of all Australians.
My hope is that you won’t just be interested but you’ll be engaged in 2015.
You matter and your voice must be heard.
Reform or stagnation.
Budget repair or endless deficits.
More tax or less.
A government that’s open to businesses or one that’s not.
On these big issues, your choices and your statements count.
Our country needs a strong business voice as much as it needs good government.
That’s what we need – and that’s what we’ll have, I’m sure, in 2015.
That’s why I’m full of confidence and hope for the future.
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