Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am glad that we are having a debate about jobs. We do not do it often enough. Unemployment is way too high. We have over 750,000 people unemployed, with unemployment at over six per cent. Our youth unemployment is much higher again. Long-term unemployment is growing. Regional unemployment is way too high. There is widespread, under-acknowledged underemployment. Unemployment is serious and it needs a lot more focus than it is being given around here.

Today, I signed the Australian shipbuilding industry pledge organised by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, who were at the front of Parliament House. This pledge asked that parliamentarians commit to supporting our shipbuilding industry and the high-tech manufacturing jobs that are part of this sector. The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, is supporting the Australian submarine industry and its workers.

Last Thursday, 18 September, TheAustralianFinancial Review had ago at him for it in an editorial, which applauded Tony Abbott for:

…finally saying no to the foreign-owned car companies.

In the very next sentence, it disapprovingly referred to:

Bill Shorten's rally of submarine workers, with its little disguised xenophobia.

That was in the very next sentence! TheAustralianFinancial Review felt entitled to throw around the ugly word 'xenophobia' in the next sentence after sneering at the car companies as being foreign owned.

Over the years, I have grown accustomed to double standards in political debate, but normally those who practice it have enough of a sense of shame to put a bit more space between their contradictions. This hypocritical attack on the Leader of Opposition occurred in the context of an editorial having a go at the former Treasury secretary Dr Ken Henry. Dr Henry had said that we are following a policy of maximising exports at any cost, which he described as Australian mercantilism. He said that no matter what the situation, Australian mercantilism will always prescribe the same treatment: to cut business costs, especially wages and taxes, and to cut government spending.

He expresses concern that Australian national attributes—such as incorruptibility; respect for the rule of law; safe working conditions; a concern with environmental sustainability and animal welfare; institutions that support social harmony, economic and social opportunity; and tolerance—are all potentially on the chopping block if they add to business costs. I think Dr Henry made some important and valid points. I am concerned that we are narrowing our economic base, are too dependent on mining and energy exports and are running out of options for our future prosperity. We need to have a broader economic base and to be more self-sufficient. How do you do that? You do it with support for education, science and research; support for university students and support for manufacturing.

That is the very opposite of what this government's budget has done. You do not do it by chloroforming the renewable energy industry and the rollout of the National Broadband Network. You do it by learning from successful overseas examples like Norway, with their sovereign wealth, free tertiary education and low unemployment. Our children will not thank us for our greed and short-sightedness. They will thank us if we pay more attention to Ken Henry. They also will not thank us if we continue to run the massive migrant worker programs in the face of the highest unemployment for over a decade in the last couple of months.

The ACTU president, Ged Kearney, says:

Unemployment has hit a 12 year high yet instead of tightening up requirements to import labour – the Government is trying to help employers bypass local workers in the Northern Territory under new designated area migration agreements.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union National Secretary Michael O'Connor says:

With the construction boom in the resource sector coming to end we will have thousands of construction workers looking for work, but the Government seems intent on destroying the job opportunities of locals while allowing the exploitation of overseas workers.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Federal Secretary Lee Thomas says:

… the 457 visa scheme was initially created as an emergency stop-gap measure used to address critical skills shortages.

"We find it unacceptable that instead of employing locally-educated nursing and midwifery graduates, employers in some health sectors continue to employ increasing numbers of workers from overseas – the current rate is 3,000 to 4,000 annually, a staggering 400 per cent increase since 2005.

"The Government must act, otherwise more than 3,000 nursing and midwifery graduates who still cannot find jobs will soon become a lost generation of highly trained health professionals who are unable to deliver quality care …"

The tragic reality is that we have a government which does not believe in full employment and which is not genuinely committed to Australian jobs. (Time expired)

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