Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:01): Firstly, I completely reject the premise of the question. The only people in the Senate that are in complete denial are the Australian Labor Party. They are in complete denial about the— Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Watt, before I take your point of order, can I ask senators if we can at least make the first minute of question time before I have to call senators to order so I can hear the minister's answer. Senator Watt, on a point of order. Senator Watt: I simply want to point out that it took the minister 15 seconds to get to Labor. The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order, Senator Watt. Senator Wong interjecting— The PRESIDENT: I'll take the interjection from you, Senator Wong. In this case, the question referenced the minister's answer yesterday and a claim about the number of times he mentioned another party. It is directly relevant for the minister to be able to address that claim in answering this question. Senator Cormann. Senator CORMANN: Thank you very much, Mr President. I would just remind the Australian people that in 2013, on coming into government, we inherited a weakening economy, rising unemployment—with the unemployment rate headed past 6¼ per cent—and indeed a rapidly deteriorating budget position. We were able to turn that situation around. Let me just say that the increasing trajectory of unemployment we inherited from Labor was a key ingredient for a softening in wages growth when we came into government. And since then, as a result of our policies, as a result of our plan, we've been able to create more jobs: 1.4 million more new jobs and an unemployment rate down to 5.2 per cent. The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, on a point of order. Senator Watt: It is on relevance. The question was simply whether the minister was in denial about record low wage growth or whether he doesn't care, and he clearly hasn't chosen one of those two options. The PRESIDENT: No, Senator Watt. Please. I provide some liberality when it comes to people raising points of order, but I expect an attempt to be made that it's a point of order. That was part of the question. The minister is entitled to be directly relevant. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senators on my left. While I'm ruling, it might help with questions. Ministers answering questions are entitled to be directly relevant to any part of the question. In this case, the minister is. Senator Cormann. Senator CORMANN: Thank you very much, Mr President. As I said in my opening remarks, the only political party in complete denial is the Australian Labor Party, because they are in complete denial about the judgement of the Australian people about who had the better plan for our economy. They chose our plan for lower taxes, pro-growth, pro-business, pro-jobs, pro-opportunity, pro-aspiration and they voted against your socialist agenda, which the Australian people understand would have made the economy weaker and would have made all Australians poorer. And the sooner you actually accept that fact, the sooner you accept the verdict of the Australian people, the better for you and the better for the Australian people. Now let me talk about wages— The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, on a point of order. Senator Wong: Direct relevance. Do you care about the low wage growth Australians are struggling with? The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, I asked— Senator Wong: Why don't you have the guts to answer that question? The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, please resume your seat. Is there more on the point of order, Senator Wong? Senator Wong: Yes, it's on the point of order. I will resume my seat, but question time is becoming a mockery if all he as the Leader of the Government in the Senate can do is talk about the Australian Labor Party. They should be governing. The PRESIDENT: On the point of order, I remind senators on my left that a minister can be directly relevant to any part of the question and, in this case, given the question, the minister is being directly relevant. There is a time for debating questions after question time and there are other opportunities in this place. Senator CORMANN: There are 1.4 million new jobs under us. The unemployment rate, which was headed past 6¼ per cent under Labor, is down to 5.2 per cent, and wages growth is stronger than it has been since 2013-14, the last financial year that Labor delivered a budget. The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, a supplementary question?