Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dobell for her question, and I can tell the member for Dobell that building and construction is Australia's third largest employer, accounting for almost a million jobs across our economy, and therefore it is critical that it be as productive as possible.

Regrettably, in the productivity stakes, building and construction is a serious underperformer. In fact, in the December quarter last year, 68 per cent of all work days lost were in the construction sector. In construction, there were 16.7 days lost per 1,000 workers, compared to 1.8 days lost across all industries. That is an extraordinarily bad result: in the December quarter, 68 per cent of all work days lost were in the construction industry, and their average was 16.7 days per 1,000 workers, compared to 1.8 for workers in all industries.

So building and construction is a laggard part of the economy, and we could do some thing about that right now by passing the Australian Building and Construction Commission bill and the Registered Organisations Commission bill, both of which the Labor Party continues to oppose, and we could put a tough cop on the industrial beat. But Labor will not do that.

Instead we get honeyed words from the Leader of the Opposition today, down at the National Press Club—honeyed words from a snake oil salesman—about how he is in favour of full employment. But who in this House is not in favour of full employment? Which member of this House is against full employment? Certainly not anyone on this side of the House. I suppose the Leader of the Opposition is also in favour of world peace! We are in favour of world peace too. And he is probably in favour of ensuring that there should be no child living in poverty by a certain year, reminiscent of his hero, Bob Hawke, to whom he is no hero. In fact, it reminded me very much of Dewey Finn, played so admirably by Jack Black, in the film School of Rock, who, when asked about his education philosophy, quoted that wonderful song by Whitney Houston:

I believe the children are our future

Teach them well and let them lead the way

Show them all the beauty they possess inside

I could sing it, Mr Speaker, but it would detract from the seriousness of the House. This is the kind of pathetic, platitudinous rubbish we got from the Leader of the Opposition at the National Press Club today. If he wanted to show he was genuinely in favour of full employment, he would pass the ABCC and the ROC bills and do something about it rather than talking about it. This side of the House is getting on with the job of providing jobs and growth.

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