Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

May I take the opportunity to congratulate the member for Griffith, Mr Rudd, on his elevation to the position of Leader of the Opposition and also the member for Lalor on her elevation to the position of Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Perhaps that is where the niceties end. That was quite a dissertation invoking Keynes, Menzies and the fall of communism, but what the people of Australia really want to hear are some rock-solid commitments about how their lives would be improved should, in that dark hour, there be a change of government.

The matter of public importance put forward in this chamber today by the member for Griffith concerns ‘the federal government’s failure to take responsibility for building a strong economy while providing fairness for all, not just some, Australians’. Keynes and the fall of communism, obviously in the mind of the member for Griffith, have a significant role to play in that. Let us talk about fairness—fairness that starts with the opportunity for an individual to get a job; fairness that starts with the opportunity for an individual to take control of his life, to set it on a particular path and to deliver real and significant outcomes for his family. Fairness starts with a strong economy and a safe society. It cuts to the very fabric of what we are as Australians. We should ensure that our economy remains strong and that our society remains safe so that we can inoculate this generation and the generations that follow us from what could be very significant influences from outside that are often uncontrollable.

The member for Griffith raised the issue of our record, so let us talk about our record. In our view, fairness is about reducing the Australian government debt, which was $96 billion when we came into government. Today we have zero net debt. Average mortgage rates for the everyday Australian—there are no average Australians, but everyday Australians—averaged 12.75 per cent under Labor. Today they average 7.15 per cent under the coalition. Let us talk about small business lending rates—small business being the engine room of the Australian economy. There are nearly two million small businesses working hard every day to help to grow Australia’s output. The average small business lending rate under Labor was 14.25 per cent. Today it is 8.8 per cent.

We come to the crux of the issue: Australians at work. The unemployment rate under the Labor Party averaged 8.2 per cent. Today it is 4.6 per cent—the lowest level of unemployment in 30 years. I make the point that it does not matter who is in government—it does not matter whether you are a trade union leader or a trade union official; no government and no trade union can guarantee an individual a job. Only economic prosperity can guarantee jobs. Only a strong economy can guarantee jobs. When the Labor Party was in government, in 1992—they had control of the parliament and their union mates were all-powerful—with all the power of the legislature they could not stop nearly one million Australians from being unemployed. All the power of the Labor Party is not matched by the rhetoric. That is because they cannot deliver on their rhetoric. The delivery has to come in real and tangible benefits for the Australian people. The number of long-term unemployed averaged 197,000 under the Labor Party. Today that number averages 91,200, even after the population has grown. The average rate of inflation—the curse, the evil that cuts to the core; inflation is like a cancer on the economy—under Labor was 5.2 per cent. Under the coalition it is 2.5 per cent.

If you want to benchmark Australia against the rest of the world, against the OECD, the developed nations, in 1995 we were ranked 13th by the OECD in terms of quality of life; today we are ranked No. 8. Household wealth is one of the fundamental questions. Real net household wealth has more than doubled under the coalition since 1996. So today Australians are richer, they have greater opportunities for jobs and, importantly, they have greater choice. As a nation we are exporting more than ever—$164 billion a year compared to $99 billion when we came to government. At a micro level, what does that mean? It means that you have to have industrial change, workplace change, in order to deliver the reforms that will give you a strong economy, that will give you job security, that will help to increase your real net wealth and that will give families greater choice in the opportunities they seek for their children and for the generations beyond. If you were to cut to what it means at a local level, you need look no further than the first round of industrial relations changes, and the most controversial in the view of the Labor Party, which were the changes to the waterfront. Crane movements per hour in March 1996 were 16.9 cranes. After our reforms—this is as of today—they are 28 movements per hour, nearly double.

See this speech in context