Scott Morrison denied the economy is struggling in a tense interview with Samantha Armytage this morning.
The Sunrise host grilled the Prime Minister on plans to spend $3.8billion on infrastructure projects across the nation in the next four years.
Most of the cash for rail and road projects had already been allocated but Mr Morrison is handing it over sooner under pressure to stimulate the economy.
Scott Morrison (pictured) denied the economy is struggling in a tense interview with Samantha Armytage this morning
Armytage wasted no time taking the Prime Minister to task, asking in her first question: ‘Is this a sign that the economy is in a pretty bad state?’
Mr Morrison replied: ‘What it is is a sign of the government that is investing in projects that the people need.
‘We have been working on this since the election over the last six months and I have been speaking with state and territory premiers and chief ministers to bring these projects through with $3.8 billion being invested in these important projects.’
The Prime Minister then listed some of the projects due for federal investment, including the light rail on the Gold Coast, the M1 in Queensland, the Tonkin Highway in Western Australia, the Princes Highway in New South Wales and the Monash Freeway in Melbourne.
Natalie Barr probed the Prime Minister further, saying the combined level of underemployment and unemployment is 13.8 per cent.
Sam Armytage (left) and Natalie Barr quizzed the Prime Minister on Sunrise
Scott Morrison (pictured in Adelaide on Monday) is handing over infrastructure cash sooner under pressure to stimulate the flagging
‘We have record low interest rates but people aren’t spending. Wages are stagnant. So, is the economy struggling and is going to get worse? Is this really why you are doing this?’ she asked.
Mr Morrison admitted there were ‘though challenges’ but insisted that the Australian economy was strong compared with other western nations.
‘We are expecting things to improve next year,’ he said.
Asked why he was announcing spending plans now, Mr Morrison said the investment has been planned since the budget in April.
‘We have been working through this over months and months, not in a panic or a crisis,’ he said.
If Australians wanted to elect economic panic merchants, they would have voted Labor
On Monday Mr Morrison announced a plan to spend $415million across six road projects in Adelaide by fast-tracking $328million and forking out $87million more.
He is expected to announce similar plans for projects in Queensland and Western Australia this week.
The plan will bring forward $1.8billion of federal funding to be spent this year and next.
Mr Morrison will discuss the fast-tracking plan in a speech on Wednesday night in which he will describe the Labor Party as a group of ‘panic merchants’.
In the speech at the Business Council Of Australia’s annual dinner in Sydney, he is expected to say: ‘This will support the economy in two ways – by accelerating construction activity and supporting jobs in the near term and by reaping longer run productivity gains sooner.’
The government has championed its infrastructure pipeline since the April federal budget but has faced criticism in recent months about the speed of its delivery.
Labor, big banks, economists and the Reserve Bank have called for the government to bring forward some of the planned projects to stimulate the economy.
But it has been protective of the slim budget surplus it expects to deliver this financial year.
Mr Morrison is expected to trumpet his successful economic management in the speech, contrasting it with what he says is Labor’s instinct to panic and spend.
‘A panicked reaction to contemporary challenges would amount to a serious misdiagnosis of our economic situation,’ he is expected to say.
‘A responsible and sensible government does not run the country as if it is constantly at DEFCON 1 the whole time, whether on the economy or any other issue.
‘If Australians wanted to elect economic panic merchants, they would have voted Labor.’
Mr Morrison sees the expected surplus as a significant achievement that is ‘the product of difficult and disciplined choices over six successive coalition budgets’, three of which he delivered as treasurer.
And the point of that surplus is to pay down the nation’s debt and reduce the $19billion in annual interest paid.
‘It’s not extra money that just lies around, squirrelled away for no good purpose, or like coins down the back of the sofa,’ he is expected to say.
Mr Morrison (pictured on Monday) will announce the fast-tracking plan in a speech on Wednesday night in which he will describe the Labor Party as a group of ‘panic merchants’