Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hinkler for his question. The member for Hinkler, representing a couple of very important ports in Queensland, would recognise that many of the predictions about previous reforms have been proven to be totally incorrect and that the reforms introduced by our government over the years, particularly with regard to the efficiency of ports, have certainly been achieved. I give the example of the waterfront reform that was undertaken by this government, which has significantly boosted the competitiveness and efficiency of our export industries and has seen crane rates in our container ports in 2006 go up to 27.7 movements per hour. In 1996 they were 16.9 movements per hour. Just as every other prediction by the Australian Labor Party and the union movement about reform in the workplace has been proven to be incorrect, they said this could not be done. They said you could not improve upon crane rates of 16.9 lifts per hour. Well, we have; that has taken place. The Australian Labor Party and the union movement have said in their scare campaign about Work Choices that this is about slashing wages, that it is about reducing levels of employment, that it is a green light for mass sackings—all the emotive lines that have been used in their scare campaign that continued today.

The reality is that unemployment in Australia has hit a record low of 4.6 per cent. In the last 10 years, 1.9 million new jobs have been created in the economy in Australia. In that period, real wages have increased by 16.5 per cent. Since Work Choices was introduced, 165,000 new jobs have been created in the marketplace. Interestingly, 62 per cent of areas in regional Australia now have unemployment levels of lower than five per cent. We all remember what unemployment was like in regional Australia under the administration of the last Labor government. The Labor Party and the union movement—the ACTU—will continue their scare campaign, but the working men and women of Australia recognise what has taken place in this country under the coalition government to improve their circumstances, living standards and the economy in Australia. They recognise that the most important point is the real wage increase over the last 10 years of 16.5 per cent, which is the very reason they believe that the coalition government is a true friend of Australia’s workers.

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