Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

You should listen to this. Federal Labor senator Sam Dastyari moved in the Senate to close down power stations, such as Hazelwood, as well as major industrial facilities around the country. Make no mistake, messages such as 'You are not welcome,' and 'We want to close you down'—from your own senator—are heard loud and clear by business and investors around the world.

Indeed, this is the very policy federal Labor took to the recent federal election, and that message has been exacerbated by the decision of the Victorian Labor government to triple royalties on Victorian power stations in the Latrobe Valley. That is job creation, Labor style. We know they talk about jobs plans—the last time I saw a jobs plan from Labor it looked more like something from the Soviet Union in the 1950s—five-year jobs plans that deliver nothing. That is exactly what we saw under Labor.

Since the coalition came to office, in September 2013, 474,300 jobs have been created, with employment standing at just under 12 million in September 2016. That was with one per cent spending growth, as against Labor's four per cent. We have created far more jobs than in the time under Labor. Under this government employment has continued to grow, rising at 1.4 per cent over the last year. This has been a focus for this government, whether it is tax cuts for small businesses, whether it is historic free trade agreements, whether it is a record investment in targeted infrastructure from our fantastic urban infrastructure minister. We have seen serious growth in jobs, serious investment in the economy and a serious focus on the real job creators in the Australian economy, businesses. Every dollar of tax that is paid for a public sector job has to be paid for by a business somewhere. They are the real job engines, the real job creators, of our economy. That is who we back to create jobs in this economy.

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