Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The three top priorities of this government should be jobs, jobs, jobs. That is the key priority today, as we get one bit of bad news after another. Only today we see the comment from Dun and Bradstreet:

Worst yet to come as economic outlook deteriorates—27 per cent of firms plan to cut back on staff.

From the ANZ we get, in a media release titled ‘Job advertisements plunge in February’:

• Job ads on the internet and in newspapers fell by 10.4% in February … taking the annual fall to 39.8%.

The National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey, again, shows business conditions down another nine points in February. There is plenty of bad news about. There is plenty of bad news for Australian workers; there is plenty of bad news for those who care about jobs. But the people who care about jobs are not to be found on the government benches today. We asked a very simple question today. We asked the Deputy Prime Minister whether she would guarantee that her Fair Work Bill would not cut one job.

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