Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The question was about the productivity agenda of this government, which is obviously something that the opposition are not interested in, because their leader is bored by economics—that is a matter that is on the public record; it was raised by the former Treasurer. This government has been investing in productivity. In particular it has invested in a national system of paid parental leave, an increase in the child care tax rebate to 50 per cent, outcomes from early childhood programs equivalent to best practice in other countries, a year 12 attainment rate of 90 per cent by 2015, 40 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds with a bachelor degree being attained by 2025, and halving the proportion of 20- to 64-year-olds without a certificate III qualification.

We have had the benefits of these national goals, which we are working towards and delivering on, modelled by Econtech. That modelling shows that over the next 15 years this would benefit our economy by up to $60 billion and from 2010 to 2040 by $108 billion. This would see more than half a million jobs added to the Australian economy every year.

I was asked about this productivity agenda and about threats to this productivity agenda. Of course, the threats to this productivity agenda are clear. They are clear from the cutbacks announced by the Leader of the Opposition, the shadow Treasurer and the shadow finance minister in the game of ‘pass the budget-reply parcel’. These cuts include preventing 120,000 students getting computers. There is a theme to the opposition’s cutbacks. They are against the NBN, they are against kids getting computers in schools and they are against e-health. We are the party of the future that is preparing the nation for the future; they are the party of the past. We are the party of the National Broadband Network, computers in schools and e-health; they are the party of the Olivetti manual typewriter. That is where they want to take the nation.

As well, they want to cut our vital investments in teacher quality, investments which are enabling the best teachers to be paid more to go to the schools that need them the most. They want to cut our trades training centre programs. They want to risk 90,000 people in training through their cuts to the Productivity Places program, including 18,000 apprentices currently in training.

When we look at all this we know that they are a risk. We know too that they are a risk to our school modernisation program, to Building the Education Revolution. The problem here of course is that they are being phoney. They are not being honest about the proposed cutbacks to schools. The Master Builders Association has indicated publicly that the investment in school infrastructure is supporting 31,000 businesses around the country. They have certainly said that without this activity in building and construction we would have seen job losses as high as 35,000.

The Leader of the Opposition went to the Master Builders Association last night and spoke. But he did not utter a word about his plans to cost that industry 35,000 jobs through the threats that he is posing to economic stimulus. Instead, he went and said about the Labor Party:

They don’t like business.

Who is it that is supporting business: this side of the House that wants to keep the doors of businesses open, or that side of the House that wants to cut economic stimulus and close businesses down; this side of the House that wants to make sure businesses have the skills, apprentices and tradespeople that they need, or that side of the House that wants to cut the vital investment into Productivity Places and trades training centre programs; this side of the House that wants to provide the National Broadband Network, the infrastructure of the future, or that side of the House that wants to cut it? This means of course that the Leader of the Opposition is a huge risk to the Australian economy and to the prosperity that supports Australian families.

See this speech in context