Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to speak on this matter of public importance because, indeed, jobs and the cost of living are things that are important to everyday Australians. They are important to people in my electorate as well, but the people in my electorate and the people in Tasmania lived it. They lived through the destructive misery that was created when we had the double whammy of a Labor-Greens government in Hobart and a Labor-Greens government in Canberra. They saw the damage that was created when that situation occurred. They saw the lack of jobs, they saw the opportunities taken away and they saw the incentive for people and small business to invest removed from them, because there was no incentive. The answer was always 'No'.

I see it here today and I hear them today. We saw in question time that the way they operate on the other side is by scaring good people with mistruths and misrepresentation of fact. They scared pensioners about things that this government has done. This is not why I got into this business; it is not why I was elected to represent the people. This is the same modus operandi that the Greens use in their fundraising campaigns. We have seen it on the Great Barrier Reef and in the good work that Greg Hunt has done. It is not about the Barrier Reef; he has removed from them the ability to scare people and, therefore, generate revenue for the causes that they want to prosecute. That leads us into the discussion around Adani. We lived it for six long years, where we had the Greens wagging the tail of the Labor dog. It was a disgrace. We saw that with the forestry industry. We have the best managed forests in the world in my state of Tasmania. It was never just about the people who were working in those forests. It was about workers in the takeaway shops. It was about the people working in the tyre businesses in Sorell. It was about the engineering shops in Launceston. These were the businesses. So, when they talk about the numbers of people employed, they never mention the broader impact that these sorts of industries had.

It is the same for Adani and Queensland. I heard a figure quoted the other day—I think it was by the Greens: 'There're only 2,000 jobs.' In fact, I got an email at my office the other day saying, 'There's only 2,000 jobs,' or 1,500 jobs. The figure we are quoting is 10,000 jobs, because it is not just about the people working directly in the mine; it is about all the other jobs there. It is about the transport operators. It is about the family businesses. It is about the subcontractors who work there, and I know that well. Whether it is Bell Bay Aluminium in the north of the state, whether it is Norske Skog at Boyer in my electorate, whether it is Nyrstar in the good member for Denison's electorate, we live this. The job-destroying tactics and misrepresentation by those on the other side is simply palpable.

Tasmania has turned the corner, I am very pleased to say, with small businesses once again having the confidence to invest—and it is little wonder, with the good work that this government has done, particularly in the last budget, with things like employee share schemes, the instant asset write-offs, the tax cuts and the discounts.

Unemployment is coming down. When we came to government in September 2013, unemployment in Tasmania was 7.9 per cent. Today it is 6.6 per cent. It is working, and every Tasmanian, if they are honest, knows it. They know we are working collaboratively with a government in Hobart that is absolutely committed to jobs and growth and they know we are working with a government here in Canberra that is absolutely committed to jobs and growth. My state and the good people of my state deserve so much better but were dealt a dud hand under Labor and the Greens for six long years.

We are turning the corner. Confidence is returning. As for services, we have seen tourist numbers in my state set new records this year. On education services, our very important University of Tasmania is attracting more students. These are things that will expand under the free trade agreements that we are negotiating. We have already done that with China, Japan and South Korea. Yet we have those on the other side, at the behest of the unions, trying to knock off the China free trade agreement. It is a disgrace.

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