Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an extraordinary contribution from the member for Brand. He really seems to be straddling the proverbial barbed-wire fence with one foot on either side. For the record, the government has concluded three new free trade agreements—with China, Korea and Japan. These were put into the too-hard basket under the previous government. Job creation and job growth is at the centre of everything that this government does. We have the largest infrastructure rollout in Australian history reaching into every state and delivering more roads and better infrastructure. Since the beginning of this year, nearly 163,000 new jobs have been created—an average of 23,000 new jobs per month. Last month, 38½ thousand jobs were created.

I took the MPI on face value—the government failing to properly invest in Australian jobs and well-planned infrastructure. We have heard from two members from Western Australia and it seems they have a more narrow focus. However, I will speak on my state. South Australia still needs to transform its economy. Unemployment is at 8.1 per cent, where we have had a state Labor government for 13½ years, and business confidence is low. University of South Australia business professor Dick Blandy has said that South Australia cannot take a silver bullet approach to economic reform. He said that what it needs is the liberation of small and medium sized businesses, which are far more likely to add jobs in the future.

The coalition want to unlock that. We want to see South Australia make that transition. We recently announced a $5½ billion small business package, the largest small business package in Australia's history. When the Minister for Small Business recently visited South Australia there was nothing but welcome for this policy and the jobs and opportunities that it will create.

Next, we move to frigates. In the previous six years of the Labor government how many naval vessels did they commission? Not one. How many orders did they place for a naval vessel? Not one. It is absolute hypocrisy for those opposite to talk about investment in Australian jobs when the 'valley of death' and job losses in naval shipbuilding were a direct result of their failure to act for six years. The coalition are doing what we can to fix this. We are bringing forward the offshore patrol vessels and future frigates. This will preserve up to 1,000 jobs that would have otherwise been lost and will guarantee up to 2,500 long-term shipbuilding jobs, primarily in South Australia.

Mr Champion interjecting—

I take the interjection from the member for Wakefield, who is really a 'glass half empty' kind of guy. The Labor Premier, Jay Weatherill, said that the future frigates announcement:

… creates the continuity and jobs that workers here in this state and around the nation want …

So the news on future frigates is good news for jobs in South Australia. They are a vote for confidence in our local shipbuilding industry.

Next, I want to talk about infrastructure: South Road, Darlington. The Labor Party promised to fix South Road, Darlington, in 2007. They promised, again, in 2008 and, again, in 2009. They never delivered it; they broke that promise. There were six years of broken promises. This is an exciting project, which means that for residents of the south, residents in the member for Kingston's electorate and mine, will now have a free-flowing journey all the way to Daws Road. It will cost $620 million, and $496 million will come from the coalition government. So we are providing 80 per cent of the funding.

Anyone who is following this debate can remember that this required the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, the member for Mayo, to play hardball with the state Labor government. But we have come up with a great outcome for commuters and we are also seeing the Torrens to Torrens project going ahead. So we have a long-term vision to see the north-south corridor, with free-flowing traffic, going all the way from Darlington to Winfield. The Darlington upgrade will create 370 jobs each year.

Lastly, what would a Labor example be of well-planned infrastructure? The NBN? When we came to government, after six years of a Labor government, how many brownfield-residents in my electorate were connected to the NBN? How many do you think? Absolute zero. Former senator Don Farrell said 10,000 were being connected. It was not true. Recently, the Minister for Communications announced a doubling of the NBN workforce. That means an additional 400 jobs in South Australia. Jobs are at the centre of everything this government does.

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