CANBERRA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister (PM) Scott Morrison has promised to create 1.25 million full-time jobs over the next five years if re-elected at May's general election.
Morrison made the commitment in a speech in Brisbane on Tuesday, establishing the governing Liberal-National Party coalition (LNP)'s economic record as the key pillar of his election campaign.
"At this next election, you'll be deciding more than the government," he said.
At the next election, only half of those of voting age will have experienced a recession during their working lives.
"You'll be deciding the economy you and your families your children and grandchildren will live in for the next decade. And the consequences will be real," said the prime minister.
"The Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ALP leader Bill Shorten are offering you a weaker economy to live in, held back by higher taxes."
The pledge resembled one made by Tony Abbott, who served as leader of the LNP from 2009 to 2015 and as the premier between 2013 and 2015, who promised to create 1 million jobs in five years in the lead-up to the 2013 election.
That goal was achieved months ahead of schedule in 2017, a feat that was hailed by Malcolm Turnbull, Abbott's successor and Morrison's predecessor, as leader of the LNP, as an indication of the party's strength promoting the economy.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Morrison said his plan would build a "strong economy and secure future," saying it would be weaker under the ALP's tax-and-spend agenda.
"That's been our record over the last five years, we promised one million jobs going into the 2013 election, Labor and others scoffed at that, said it couldn't be done and we did it," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"You can't tax the economy to success. I think I'm pretty blunt about it, the economy will be weaker under Bill Shorten and Labor."
Jim Chalmers, the ALP's finance spokesperson, attacked Morrison's record on the economy, saying the PM has not delivered for "ordinary working people."
"Scott Morrison is from another planet if he thinks that this economy is delivering for ordinary working people," he told the ABC.
"We've got falling confidence, stagnant wages, slowing growth, insecure work, high underemployment, high household debt, low savings at the household level."
Speaking on Monday, Shorten went after "fresh chaos and continuing disunity in the government."
"If it's not members of the government walking out the door, it's other Liberal supporters running against the government as independents," he said.
"This is a government that's lurching from crisis to crisis, and in the meantime the big issues are just not getting addressed."
