QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Women, Minister for Government Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (14:59): I thank Senator Hume for the question about productivity, because it is an important issue across our economy, and we've been upfront about that since we came to government, when the government that Senator Hume was a member of had a productivity assumption of 1.5 per cent every year across their budget and failed to meet it each time.

Treasury advice to the incoming government was that a more realistic figure should be lower than that, and we have adopted that Treasury advice. But we have had a productivity issue in our economy for decades, including for the entire time that those opposite were in government. That's why we've put productivity and addressing productivity at the centre of our economic thinking and into the decisions we've taken in the budget.

In particular, I would urge those who will have the opportunity, to vote this week so we can get the bill done. In another regulatory reform bill, the first regulatory reform bill which was brought to this parliament, those opposite voted against it. I hope that the second bill that we bring forward, which is about reducing red tape and has, as one of our measures, addressing productivity, will be in the Senate and listed on the program this week, and it should be passed by the Senate this week.

But we also have a range of other measures in the budget that specifically go to looking at ways that we can improve productivity across the economy, and we will continue to do that. We will probably continue to be frustrated by those opposite, who don't support a lot of it, whether it's building homes, modernising energy markets, better recognising skills, unlocking data and AI— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Hume, first supplementary?