Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

In an MPI based on job security the previous speaker could not utter the J word—jobs. Back in the day when he was the economic adviser to Bob Hawke they used to talk all the time about the numbers of jobs that had been created. I have a suspicion—more than a suspicion—that we will not be hearing about job creation over the next 12 months. That is not something we will be hearing from the Prime Minister; it is not something we will be hearing from the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; it is not something we will be hearing from any of the frontbench. I think it is a damning indictment of one of the ministers of the current government and it is a let-down for the people who voted for you that you could not address the issue of job security in an MPI on job security.

The government has a plan to destroy 134,000 jobs. It will not be job creation; it will be job destruction. In 12 months time there will be, on your own forecasts, 134,000 fewer jobs. What I have to report is that the Labor Party are on track to meet their own job destruction target. They have already taken out almost 20,000 jobs in the month of May. So in a month when the Treasurer delivered his budget, we had 19,700 fewer jobs at the end of May than we had at the beginning of May. So Labor are on track. I might point out this is the last time we will have detailed labour force data from the ABS. It is one of the things they have cut back. They are not going to be producing job vacancy data anymore and they are reducing the size of the labour force survey.

When we look at the industries that are shedding jobs under this new regime, on seasonally adjusted figures over the last three months, from February to May, the construction industry has shed 10,200 jobs, wholesale trade has shed 19,800 jobs and the retail trade has shed 5,200 jobs. Under the watch of the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, who is responsible for things like wholesale trade, retail trade and so on, there is no mention of these industries and the jobs they have been shedding. Since the government was elected we have seen a number of businesses shed workers: Integrated Forest Products in the ACT shed 110 workers; Telstra shed 111 workers in December; Commander, a communications company, shed 600 workers; Mitsubishi shed 930 workers; National Parts shed 300 workers; Telstra in Launceston shed 100 workers; Western Exporters in Charleville shed 90 workers; Brintons in Geelong shed 100 workers; Fisher and Paykel in Brisbane shed 310 workers; Players Biscuits in New South Wales shed 200 workers; Riviera Marine in the member for Fadden’s electorate shed 136 workers; Octavia shed 100 workers in February and 20 in May; Qantas and Jetstar are shedding jobs in Cairns; Holden in Victoria is shedding 531 workers; Clipsal is shedding 200 workers; and Crane is shedding 90 workers.

That is the record of the Labor government in six short months. They have already seen the turning point of the economy. In the leading indexes we now see a turning point in the economy. In the month of May they lost almost 20,000 jobs. At the end of May there were 20,000 fewer jobs than there were at the start of May, and there is more to come. Your plan is to take 134,000 workers out of the Australian economy. Your plan is to have 134,000 fewer working families in 12 months time than what you have now. It is a disgrace. You have let down the people who voted for you.

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