Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I start my contribution by recording my gratitude to the electors of Gorton for returning me so emphatically in September last year. This is my fifth term, and my fourth term as the member for Gorton. It is a great honour and privilege to represent this most vibrant and growing north-west constituency in what I would argue is the best city in this country.

I would also like to record my thanks to the many Labor Party members and supporters who undertook the work of doorknocking, letterboxing, staffing polling booths on election day and pre-poll. Without their help, without their support, the result may not have been fundamentally different but certainly the margin of the result would have been. I thank them very much for their assistance.

I would also like to thank my campaign manager, Colin Robertson, who has been my campaign manager for a number of elections and has been a staff member. He has moved on to new things. He did a great job and I would acknowledge his efforts not only in that role but in his role in my electorate office for 10 years. While I am doing that I would also like to pay tribute to Mr Sean Payne, who spent almost as much time in my office. He has also recently departed the office. I wish them both the very best for the future.

While I am on my feet thanking people I would like to also acknowledge those who contributed to my efforts as minister for six years—all of my staff. There are too many to mention but I would like to pay particular tribute to my chiefs of staff, Julie Ligeti and Yvette Nash and all of the others who did such great work to assist me for the government and, of course, ultimately for this nation. I thank them one and all.

I thank again my partner, Jodi. The last 18 months has been a very difficult time for us. Any time I found the going tough in my role as a minister or in government—and indeed there were some times—I only had to think about Jodi's indefatigable fight against a debilitating illness to be inspired and motivated. So I thank her for that and, of course, I continued to, with her, hope to ensure that she will recover fully from that challenge.

The address by the Governor-General on behalf of the government spoke of 'more jobs, higher wages and the funding of better services'. Let us look at jobs. That speech did contain the government's commitment to deliver one million new jobs in five years. So almost six months after the election we should really consider how this commitment is travelling. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has indicated that in that time there has been a net job loss of 63,000 full-time jobs. When compared with the net addition of part-time jobs growth, there is a net loss overall of 7,000 jobs. In other words, instead of being 100,000 additional jobs, we have fewer jobs than when this government was elected, and the jobs that are emerging are part-time jobs, substantiating the concerns of many economists and others that underemployment is growing.

We should also consider the participation rate. The participation rate—that is, eligible workers looking for work—has fallen to its lowest since April 2006. That means that this government is presiding over a lower participation rate than at any time during or after the global financial crisis. That is a concern, and it should be a concern to the government. The other thing to note is that these results have yet to factor in the decisions by Holden and Toyota to leave Australia for good. They do not take into account the closure of Forge Group and the huge job losses at Alcoa, Rio Tinto, Qantas and other big companies. We have yet to hear from Qantas about the further job losses—and I am advised that may well happen tomorrow morning—on top of the 1,000 job losses they already foreshadowed some weeks ago, but the prospects are bleak. The unemployment rate of six per cent is the highest for 10 years and has also not taken into account the thousands of job losses that will follow the end of the car manufacturing industry, particularly in the car component parts sector, with approximately 55,000 jobs. So it is an inauspicious start for this government and its so-called promises to deliver on jobs.

I want to make it very clear that it is not the case that the opposition is of the view that every job lost under the Abbott government is the government's fault. But there is no excuse for not having a considered plan—not having a plan to mitigate job losses, not having a plan to save jobs and not having a plan to transition workers from those jobs that are going into emerging jobs or new jobs. That is the question the opposition has put time and time again to this government: where is the jobs plan for Holden workers? Where is the jobs plan for Alcoa workers, Toyota workers, Electrolux workers or the workers who were employed in alumina plants at Gove? What effort, energy or industry of this government is being deployed to look after these hardworking Australians?

The Prime Minister talks of liberating these workers from assembly lines for better jobs, but where are these better jobs and what are the government doing to put in place a transition from old to new, a pathway from joblessness to jobs? The opposition has yet to see where the government are fighting hard for these workers. The government have given up too easily on these companies. We saw the Treasurer goad Holden into leaving our shores. The government have given up too easily on these companies, they have given up too easily on this work and they have given up too easily on these workers.

I note that today, finally, the government has responded to the opposition's call to improve support for our farmers who are confronted with a very bad drought. We await the detail, but we are pleased the government has finally decided to respond to that challenge. I know you, Deputy Speaker Scott, would be one of many in this House who would welcome that decision. But it begs the question: why is there so little support for our manufacturing workers? The misery of joblessness, of the sense that you have been thrown on the scrap heap, is as devastating for our fellow Australians in Melbourne's west, in North Adelaide or indeed in Nullumbuy as the plight of farmers struggling with drought. The fluctuations in the weather that the Minister for Agriculture refers to are no more devastating to farmers than the fluctuations of our dollar value, which has led to the pressure on the manufacturing sector, which has led also to or contributed to job losses in that sector. This is of concern to me and to the opposition and I think we should do everything we can to help those workers.

Debate interrupted.

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