Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

more strongly than they are. That is our government's record. Job creation over the last year is in fact more than four times the level of Labor in their last year in office. It is the highest level in five years. Why is this job creation so great in this country? It has to do with the fact that we have a plan. We have a plan to increase jobs in this country by creating new opportunities. Those opportunities come in the form of FTAs. We have created the China free trade agreement, the Korea and the Japan free trade agreements, which increase the markets available for our goods and services.

Opposition members interjecting—

If you listened, you might learn something. The goods and services that we export overseas have new markets because of these free trade agreements that we are putting into place. When we are able to export more, we are increasing the jobs available to people back home. Let me give you an example. In my electorate of Higgins there is a manufacturer of infant formula. Under the Korean free trade agreement we will see duty-free quotas for infant formula. This means there will be new markets or increased markets to sell in Korea. Under the Japanese agreement, there are duty-free quotas for these manufacturer milk products. Under the Chinese agreement, we will see a decrease in tariffs on dairy products of up to 20 per cent. This means that the manufacturer of infant formula in my electorate of Higgins will be able to increase their sales and grow the economy and jobs here.

It is not only through the free trade agreements that we are increasing jobs; it is also through our other policies—our small business policies, the company tax cut for small business in the last budget of more than 1.5 per cent. This means that there is more money in these small businesses to grow small businesses. When you grow small business you create new jobs, and that is what is being done right now. We are also cutting red tape, more than $2 billion worth of red tape, which again means that we are focusing on making sure that when businesses are spending money they are spending money on employment, not just spending money on simply trying to get through the morass of red tape that currently exists, and that increased under the previous Labor government.

Finally, we have a $50 billion infrastructure plan where the construction that will take place under this government will lead to new jobs. The real risk comes from those opposite who refuse to put in place protections for workers through the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which will in fact—

An opposition member: Are you talking about protection for workers?

Protection of workers from the thuggery and intimidation we have been seeing and we have heard about through the royal commission. That has been going on under Labor and it will continue to go on under Labor, which threatens jobs. (Time expired)

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