Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance. It is clear to those on this side of the House that nothing improves the prospects of Australians more effectively than building a strong economy. Nothing creates jobs faster than a strong economy. Nothing improves wages growth more than a strong economy. Nothing provides more opportunity for workers, young and old, to move from welfare to work than a strong economy. But the problem is that members opposite are living in complete denial. They are in denial of what they did to the Australian economy when they were in government. They are in denial of what they continue to do to the Australian economy from the benches of opposition.

When they were in government they built a debt mountain, and they are continuing to work on their very own debt mountain from the opposition treasury bench. At every turn they obstruct the government's efforts to bring the budget back into surplus. At every turn they obstruct the government's efforts to build a strong and secure Australia for the future. They obstruct us, yet they feign concern for workers. They are not concerned for the workers of Australia; they are concerned only for political expediency. The coalition is working to build a strong and prosperous economy. The coalition is working to fix Labor's debt and deficit disaster—and we are doing that not with the assistance of members opposite but despite them.

We have our economic strategy to create jobs and build a strong economy. More than 200,000 jobs were created last year at a rate of nearly 600 jobs a day. I will repeat that: we have created jobs at the rate of 600 a day. That is a new job every 2½ minutes. In 2014 jobs growth was triple the rate seen in 2013 under Labor. Job advertisement levels are at their highest levels in over two years, with yearly growth in job advertisements at a 3½ year high. Consumer confidence, according to the ANZ, sits above long-term average levels. Labor's legacy is one of 200,000 more people who are unemployed, gross debt projected to rise to $667 billion, $123 billion in cumulative deficits and 50,000 illegal arrivals by boat. That is their legacy.

When Labor's $9 billion carbon tax hit business, it made it more difficult for business to employ. It pushed up business costs. It made our businesses less competitive. We have removed that tax. We are about removing Labor's mess. We are about cleaning up their mess—their budget mess and their policy mess. We will continue to create more jobs. We will continue to ease the pressure on families. We will continue to build the roads of the 21st century. And we will continue to work to get the settings right to allow businesses to employ more Australians.

We had a situation where we were faced with billions upon billions of dollars of environmental approvals being held up by those opposite. This government has removed the roadblock that was put in place by the previous government.

We have seen Labor's policy inaction in government. You need look no further for their job creation prowess than the new government of Victoria, investing $1 billion, or wasting $1 billion, in not building a road that would have created 7,000 new jobs. You have to hand it to Labor—spending $1 billion to not build a road, to not create 7,000 jobs.

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