Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wakefield for his question. I understand it is his birthday today, so I acknowledge that. On this side of the House, we manage the economy to benefit the working people of this country and to grow jobs. Labor governments know how best to manage the economy for jobs growth. Australia does have low unemployment at 5.1 per cent. Real wages in this country have continued to grow. By contrast, unemployment in the United States is above eight per cent and real wage growth is stagnant.

Our economic strength has been achieved while also delivering on Labor's values of fairness and equity. We removed Work Choices to improve fairness in Australian workplaces. We have introduced paid parental leave. We have doubled investment in school education. We have upgraded facilities at schools around the country. We have created 130,000 new training places. We are investing more than $36 billion in transport infrastructure projects around the country. This side of the parliament is making an historic investment in the National Broadband Network, which will drive productivity improvements, improve living standards and create new business opportunities for businesses all around the country. This side of the parliament understands the importance of introducing a carbon price so that we can separate our economic growth from growth in pollution. On this issue, anyone who argues that we as a nation can do nothing about climate change is betraying our future—our environmental future and our economic future. We are investing in the skills and training to give Australians a fair share of the mining boom. We are helping small business.

Every single thing that the government is doing on the economy is opposed by the coalition. Falsehoods are constantly told. Let us not forget that not many months ago the Leader of the Opposition claimed the coal industry would be destroyed by a carbon price—

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