Mr SWAN (Lilley—Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer) (14:21): In the face of ongoing global uncertainty the Australian economy continues to outperform virtually every other advanced economy. In the year to March our economy has grown by 4.3 per cent. That is more than twice that experienced by other major advanced economies. So far this year 100,000 jobs have been created in Australia—800,000 jobs during the period of the government. And over the year to March, private business investment has grown by 20 per cent, to be at its highest level of GDP in 40 years. And in the past year the advance stage of the investment pipeline in resources has grown by nearly $90 billion. Consider that: over the past year, investment in resources at the advanced stage has grown by $90 billion. All of this has happened in the full knowledge that a carbon price was starting on 1 July. All of these facts about economic growth, about the performance of our economy over the past year, absolutely torpedo all of the lies that have been told by the Leader of the Opposition—absolutely torpedo the scare campaign that he has been mounting over the past year. Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer will resume his seat. I ask him to withdraw the use, if I just heard him use the word 'lie'— Mr Robert interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Fadden! The difficulty I have is that I often cannot hear a thing. That is probably a blessing on numerous occasions, but I did not hear the first part because of the noise. The Treasurer will withdraw. Mr SWAN: I do withdraw, Madam Deputy Speaker. Over the past year the Leader of the Opposition has been running around like Chicken Little, saying the sky is going to fall in. And, of course, in that time, our economy has gone from strength to strength to strength. So when you look at that data, and see the performance of the Australian economy, and you reflect on all of the distortions that the Leader of the Opposition has been putting in place, you can see that he is unfit for high office—because he is constantly at war with the facts; he does not have the temperament and he does not have the ability to understand what is happening in our national economy. He would rather see the country and the economy fail than this government succeed, because he can never take a position in the national interest. For our part, we are focusing on policies which will grow our economy and spread the opportunities right around the whole of Australia. We understand how important it is to help households, and to help small businesses, that are not in the fast lane of the mining boom. We had a motion in the House this morning that celebrated our strong economy, moved by the member for Fraser, and the Leader of the Opposition could not even bring himself to vote for that. This just shows how unfit for high office the Leader of the Opposition is. (Time expired)