John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hasluck for his question. The member for Hasluck and his Labor opponent in the forthcoming election really present a microcosm of what the policy debate is all about. The member for Hasluck employed people when he was in business before he came into this parliament. He was an extremely successful small business man. He was somebody who actually worked hard to give people jobs. His Labor opponent is a former trade union official. Need I say any more? She is committed to a policy which will result in higher unemployment. My colleague from Hasluck lived a life before he came into this parliament that actually gave jobs to people and reduced unemployment.

I might remind the House that in 1996 the unemployment rate in Hasluck was 7.4 per cent. In March of this year it had fallen to a mere 3.1 per cent. I might also inform the House that figures that came out today on the long-term unemployment levels in this country show that in the time that this government has been in office the level of long-term unemployment has fallen by 66.3 per cent. It was in excess of 330,000 in 1996. It is now a bare 66,700. But it can get lower and we can have in reality in this country a full-employment society. When I talk about a full-employment society I talk about one where every person who wants a job and is able to have a job, gets the job, but also a society where not only do they get the job but they get the job of their choice. We have it within our grasp if we do the right thing economically over the years ahead to create a genuine full-employment society in Australia. We will not create it if we wind back industrial relations reform. We will not create it by driving up unemployment, which would be the result of Labor’s policies. The long-term unemployment list would begin to climb again, because Labor’s returning of the unfair dismissal laws would result in unemployment rising once again because small business would be intimidated out of taking on the staff that they plainly have been doing over the last 16 months when the new industrial relations laws have been in operation.

So I say in reply to the member for Hasluck that the greatest human dividend of good economic policy is reduced unemployment. The greatest goal any government can have is to create a society where people have the jobs not only that they are able to do but the jobs that they want—that we have a society where every Australian who wants to work and can work is able to get a job and is able to get a job of their choice. That is the society that we want. It is a society that could never be achieved under the Australian Labor Party.

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