Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

That is right; I have one more to go. I do not have much say in it, unfortunately. Secondly, we can massively increase immigration. We do not agree with that. We actually think we have the immigration levels about right. The third area where we can get the workers is to get some of those two million Australians who are on welfare and not working into work. They are of working age. We have to try to access that pool. This government had the courage to introduce Welfare to Work initiatives that moved people from welfare into work. Of course the Labor Party opposed it all the way and said that we were heartless. The bottom line is that having a 4.3 per cent unemployment rate and having higher real wages is not heartless; it is actually the greatest form of welfare you could possibly deliver.

Today I am releasing a report entitled Building stronger families: the benefits of moving from welfare to work. It gives a snapshot of the success of the initiative. Why do we undertake these policies? It is because we are about the future welfare of the Australian people. We are about helping Australians to have more jobs and higher real wages. Of course when the Labor Party released its workplace relations policy it did not say anything about jobs. It did not say anything about higher real wages. It did not say anything about economic prosperity. It was just a deal between the union bosses, who make up 70 per cent of the Labor frontbench—and others are coming in like Combet, Shorten and Dougie Cameron—and the Labor Party. That sort of deal is bad for Australian workers and it is bad for Australian families. If you ever want to think carefully about what the implications will be of electing a Rudd Labor government then look no further than the fact that 70 per cent of his frontbench are former union officials. Does anyone really believe for a second that in government he would have the courage to stand up to his entire frontbench and a union movement that is spending millions of dollars to get him elected? Does anyone believe that for a second? No. The reason is that the Labor Party will always put the jobs of the union bosses ahead of the jobs of Australian working families.

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