Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

So you do not have to take it from this government—you can take it from the OECD, you can take it from the IMF, you can take it from international experience that those things that are required to make an economy flexible in a modern, international, globalised economic environment are those things that will create the most jobs. And it is the people who are prepared to take the hard decisions, not the populist decisions, who will create the job opportunities for the most marginalised in our society: the long-term unemployed, the young and women. There is one side of Australian politics that stands for job creation, and it is the Liberal and the National parties. There is one side of Australian politics that stands for high unemployment, and it is the Australian Labor Party. Kids, women and the long-term unemployed have a chance of a job under a Liberal and National Party government because the Liberal and National parties are prepared to do the necessary reform to ensure that it can happen.

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