Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance so that I have a chance to make the good constituents of Barton, and all Australians, understand the fallacy embedded in the statement put by the opposition.

The coalition have always stood up for jobs because we stand by the hardworking people of this country. We believe that, rather than going on welfare, people should work when they are capable of doing so. We believe in hope, opportunity and reward, which is why we were elected in 2013, after six years of Labor waste and sabotage of the country's economic and employment credentials.

The Australian people have had a gutful of the opposition's waste and carelessness. Labor took a wrecking ball to the solid foundations left behind by the Howard government, including a balance sheet with a surplus—a term that is foreign to the opposition. It only took six years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government to get us into a financial mess that is costing taxpayers $1 billion a month to repay just the interest on a record debt, with a projected debt of $667 billion and accumulated deficits of $123 billion.

For just under two years, the coalition has consistently worked hard to clean up this mess so that current and future generations of Australians can continue to enjoy our excellent living standards and world-class healthcare system and to contribute to our great country.

Since September 2013, 330,000 jobs have been created and Australian jobs have grown at a rate that outpaces the US, the UK, Canada and every other G7 nation. Job creation over the last year is more than four times the level of job creation in Labor's last year in office. Rather than acknowledging the much-needed work required to fix the mess it created and then shifted elsewhere, the ALP is in complete denial about its failed policies, including school halls, which has become an international policy study of what not to do; the disastrous pink batts scheme that killed people; the world's biggest carbon tax; a huge mining tax; and the billions of taxpayers' dollars wasted on securing our borders against illegal maritime arrivals which created chaos in the seas and led to the lives of men, women and children being lost. I could go on, but I would rather focus on the positive things the current government is doing to protect and invest in jobs.

Since just the beginning of this year, 163,000 new jobs have been created, and the labour market has continued to perform strongly in the first seven months, after a strong 2014. We can expect this to grow even more, as the coalition completed a trifecta of wonderful free trade agreements with China, Korea and Japan that will see a surge in trade and commodity exports. Of course, the ALP would rather insist this was a negative thing, even though they tried—and failed miserably—to achieve this when they were in government.

I digress. A recent report commissioned by the government estimates that the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will, when combined with trade deals with Japan and Korea, create an average of almost 9,000 jobs per year and create 178,000 jobs by the time the agreements come into full force in 2035.

Asia is in a phase of unprecedented growth, and the coalition has been able to see this as something for all Australians to partake in so that those who take the risk of creating opportunities are rewarded. Unlike the opposition, the government is encouraging Australians to take on these unique opportunities, which will generate jobs and harness ongoing prospects of doing more business with our regional partners. So it is truly disappointing to see the ALP and unions engage in a xenophobic campaign designed to create false alarm.

In addition, the government has released a historical Jobs and Small Business package in this year's budget, which will see incentives for businesses to reinvest and employ workers. Our measures include a 1.5 per cent cut for small companies, immediate asset deductions for $20,000 or less, measures in place for organisations to hire job seekers, and red tape reduction. For the 13,000-plus small businesses in Barton, this is a most welcome relief to help them stimulate growth and employ locals. These are the kinds of things that protect and invest in jobs. What are the solutions of the opposition? Tax and more tax? Punish entrepreneurs who take a risk, encourage multinationals to go abroad and spend taxpayer dollars frivolously on cheques to dead people?

Under this government, Australia is open for business, and part of that is removing uncertainty for investors. Trade means more jobs. More trade means more jobs. Freer trade means more jobs. The actions of the coalition will result in literally hundreds of millions of dollars of extra benefit to businesses across Australia—businesses which employ Australians. That is how the government is protecting and investing in jobs.

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