Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for that question. I know it is a hard to act to follow my good friend the member for New England, but I will give it my best shot because on this side of the parliament we are focussing on good economic policy and on the creation of jobs. That is why I am pleased that the Australian Taxation Office and a number of other government agencies are employing more than 600 people in Gosford. We are able to announce a new centre of excellence in Gosford on the Central Coast of New South Wales because we are absolutely committed to getting more jobs into more regional areas, as well as importantly helping to stimulate economic growth. The impressive fact is that in the first months of this year over 106,000 new jobs were created in Australia.

Opposition members: About time!

'About time,' they say, and now they are fighting over who said it—106,000.

An opposition member: How many part time?

I will tell you: 79,000 full-time jobs out of 106,000; 79,000 full-time jobs in the first four months of this year. Under Labor, 200,000 more Australians were unemployed in just six years. The unemployment rate had a four in front of it when Labor was elected and it is going up to 6¼ per cent as a result of the legacy of Labor. They do not care about jobs. They never cared about jobs. We are the party for job creation.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

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