Delivering For You

The Turnbull Government was a thoroughly Liberal Government, committed to individual freedom and opportunity.

Three years ago I said that as Prime Minister I would deliver strong economic leadership and, from the time I launched our National Innovation and Science Agenda in November 2015, that’s exactly what I have done.

The policies of my government have delivered record jobs growth, lower unemployment, less dependence on welfare and more opportunities for all Australians, not just a select few.

Stronger economic growth has enabled us to turn the corner on government debt, bring the budget back into balance a year earlier than forecast, spend record amounts on health, education, infrastructure and national security and, at the same time, reduce taxes for individuals and small and medium businesses - overwhelmingly Australian and family owned.

I am proud of our many achievements, including:

• Legislating for marriage equality and doing so with overwhelming support from the Australian people.

• Bringing greater prominence and much-needed funding to one of our nation’s gravest challenges, violence against women and children.

• Establishing a national redress scheme for the victims of child sexual abuse, and providing record support for mental health services

• Committing record funding for infrastructure, hospitals and Medicare, fully funding the NDIS, and reversing the unpopular decisions from the 2014 Budget - all made possible by our strong economy

• Providing affordable access to $8.1 billion worth of new life-saving medicines

• Providing record drought assistance for our farmers and drought-affected communities across NSW and Queensland who are experiencing the toughest conditions in recent memory

• Bringing an end to the years of toxic, divisive debate about schools funding with the largest, fairest reforms to schools funding in our nation’s history

• Introducing the biggest reforms to childcare in 40 years, ensuring those on lower incomes receive the highest level of support

• Delivering record jobs growth, with the 400,000-plus new jobs created in 2017 the strongest in any year in our history

• Defending the rule of law on worksites and standing up for Australian workers by establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission and ending corrupt payments between big business and unions

• Cutting taxes for more than three million small and medium businesses up to $50 million turnover,  which employ half the nation’s workforce

• Cutting income taxes for every working Australian, benefiting middle-income earners this year and, when the full reform is complete in 2024, ensuring 94 per cent of workers will pay no more than 32.5c of any additional dollar they earn

• Delivering the toughest multinational tax avoidance laws in the OECD, ensuring that all companies pay their fair share of tax

• Leaving the budget in the strongest position since the Global Financial Crisis, and on track to return to surplus next year

• Turning the corner on energy prices, ending the shortage of gas on the East Coast and with a range of reforms that will save families and small businesses hundreds of dollars a year

• Making innovation a national priority through our National Innovation and Science Agenda, which has helped startup businesses access record funding

• Starting work on a record $75 billion infrastructure program, including nation-building projects such as Snowy Hydro 2.0, the Western Sydney Airport and the Melbourne Airport Rail Link

• Prioritising pumped hydro storage, the key to making intermittent renewables like wind and solar reliable. Snowy Hydro 2.0 will be the largest pumped hydro scheme in the Southern Hemisphere and it will be accompanied by other projects we have developed including Tasmania’s “Battery of the Nation”.

• Acquiring from NSW and Victoria their shares in Snowy Hydro making it, as it should be, wholly owned by the Commonwealth.

• Taking a new, collaborative approach for the Federal Government in Cities policy. Instead of being just a giver of grants - a dumb ATM - we established City Deals where the Commonwealth, State and local government agree on their objectives and then work together to realise them. And where the Commonwealth will invest as a partner. Already we have City Deals under way in Townsville, Launceston and Western Sydney with City Deals being negotiated in Geelong, Hobart, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. The approach can also apply to regional areas and we recently committed to a Regional Deal for Tennant Creek and the Barkly Shire.

• Securing new free trade export deals, including the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Peru Australia Free Trade Agreement, enhancing our existing deal with Singapore, and negotiating a new free trade deal with Indonesia which is due to be signed on 1 September 2018.

• Ensuring Australian exports of steel and aluminium are not hit with US tariffs or quotas - protecting thousands of jobs.

• Protecting Australia’s sovereignty through countering foreign interference and covert and corrupt influence

• Keeping our borders secure, with not one successful people-smuggling expedition to Australia during my time as Prime Minister

• Securing a refugee resettlement deal with the US, with so far more than 370 refugees that Labor put on Manus and Nauru now settled in the US

• Reviving  Australia’s defence industry with our $89 billion naval shipbuilding program, including 54 vessels under construction or design - the largest commitment since the Second World War

I have always stood up for Australia on the international stage. No matter who I was dealing with I put Australians first: from securing the resettlement deal for asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru, to defending the jobs of our steelworkers, fighting to maintain the TPP and the thousands of jobs it will secure.

Importantly, we have delivered on our greatest responsibility of all: to keep Australians safe during a time of unprecedented threats.

The new laws of my government have cracked down on foreign interference, given our troops greater powers to target terrorists in the field, and enabled the detention of criminals who pose an ongoing threat to our nation.

Under my leadership, we maintained the Coalition’s strong record on border protection. There were no unauthorised boat arrivals while I was Prime Minister.

We set out Australia’s strategic and defence priorities for the coming decade in our Foreign Policy and Defence White Papers. These have helped inform our record defence investments and our international engagement, all designed to keep Australians safe.

And at a time of growing nationalist sentiment across the world, I have opposed racism and division at every turn, ensuring Australia remains the most harmonious, egalitarian and enterprising nation, embracing diversity.

When I was elected Prime Minister I spoke of the optimism I hoped to bring to the role.

I said then that Australians can be confident about their future - that our best years are ahead of us and, three years later, they still are.