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

To make it clear: the opposition is not opposing lifting the liquid assets eligibility level for Newstart allowance, but I am concerned that the government are passing the buck by refusing to address the real issue here, which is that of rising unemployment and their responsibility. We have gone from seeing a government promising to create 75,000 jobs as a result of their $10.4 billion stimulus package in December to their supporting only 90,000 jobs with their $42 billion spending announcement. The tone has changed and the government have given up the fight. We have had no indication of what the jobs impact will be of their policies, their emissions trading scheme or their industrial relations legislation, and yet they are able to quantify, down to the last job, 75,000 jobs from the $10.4 billion stimulus package.

Unfortunately, this legislation has become necessary now that we have the highest unemployment rate since March 2005 and now that we have had the largest increase in the unemployment rate since 1991. All you will hear from the government is that they refuse to take any responsibility for any of this. They are not responsible for a single job loss nor are they responsible for a single extra person joining the ranks of the unemployed. Regrettably, there is much worse to come. I fear that the government’s forecast of an extra 300,000 Australians out of work by June next year will turn out to be a very optimistic forecast and that there will be much more to say on this.

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