Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As my colleagues have noted, yesterday, while justifying his stripping away of workers' rights in the form of penalty rate cuts, the Prime Minister stated that his government is delivering the economic growth that Australia deserves. Really? Does Australia deserve an economy growing below trend? Does Australia deserve high unemployment and record high job losses? Does Western Australia deserve to be ripped off again by an outdated and unjustifiable GST distribution system? The Prime Minister screamed today in question time that he was doing his best for Australians. If this is his best, I would hate to see him on a bad day! Really, Prime Minister? If this is your best, try harder. Really, do better. We hear the jobs and growth mantra all the time. Here is a simple fact for Mr Turnbull: there are fewer full-time jobs than there were a year ago. It is not really growth, is it. There are 1.1 million Australians out there looking for jobs to support their families, and they cannot find them because they are not there. Is this really what our Prime Minister thinks Australians deserve?

This government is supporting the slashing of take-home pay for everyday Australians while, at the same time, it is prepared to shell out a $50 billion handout for big business. It is hard to tell if the Treasurer is going to go through with it; he is not able to give anyone a straight answer. He has been asked 12 times in the media recently about their big, bold plans for jobs and growth—their corporate handout, that is—and, now, he cannot promise it. What the Treasurer has promised, however, is an increase in the GST—perhaps so Western Australians can pay more to send their money over the Nullarbor! In February last year, the Treasurer declared he could convince Australians that he should increase the GST. Although I would like to see how he would do that—and I would like to see him try—he cannot even convince his own party to back his ideas or to back him personally, for that matter.

The Treasurer has been rolled by the party room on negative gearing reform. The cornerstone of his economic policy, the corporate handout, probably will not survive the budget. But, really, who can tell?

The handout was a failure from the outset. It was never part of a comprehensive tax reform. It endangers Australia's AAA credit rating and even the big four banks are questioning the benefits of the policy. That's right: even the Prime Minister's banker friends have lost faith in his government's ability to drive Australia's economy, as have we all.

This Prime Minister and Treasurer are also standing by the penalty rate cuts—they do it again and again. It will mean some of Australia's lowest paid workers, who rely on Sunday penalty rates, will take home $77 a week less. How does the Treasurer expect the economy to lift when people have less disposable income? As we know, the net debt has this year blown out to $317 billion. We have lost our AAA credit rating in Western Australia, due to the incompetent Liberal government, and we are looking down the barrel of the same fate for the rest of this country. This is the Prime Minister's and Treasurer's Australia, where you do not deserve an opportunity to work, you do not deserve the opportunity to own your own home and you do not deserve to be paid a fair wage for a fair day's work.

I am looking forward to getting home for a few weeks, but I am also looking forward to getting back here in May to see what kind of budget this government is going to deliver. I am looking forward to seeing whether the Turnbull government has paid attention to the voters of Western Australia. As we all know, this government has recklessly and ruthlessly threatened withdrawal $1.2 billion of infrastructure funding—yes, they really have done that. This funding needs to be directed to job-creating, economy-building infrastructure projects such as Metronet and, very importantly, the funds need to go to developing a plan for a new outer harbour in Kwinana. It is a long-term nation-building project that will create much-needed jobs and economic opportunities for the people living in local communities across Brand and across Western Australia, and will provide further economic opportunities for the nation. It would help grow the local state economy and the national economy, which the Liberals have manifestly failed to do at all levels of government.

Despite the benefits of this project, despite the new jobs, despite the calls from industry to support it, this federal government does not seem to understand that it is necessary infrastructure. They are not interested in it. They cobbled it together for the hopeless 2014 budget and they really need to pay attention and get interested quickly. I hope we see some commitment for it in the upcoming budget.

The government fails the economy of Western Australia with its disregard for staggering unemployment figures. In the north of Brand, in the suburb of Parmelia in Kwinana, where I was born, we have seen growth in unemployment from an already shocking level of 15.2 per cent in the December 2015 quarter to 17.7 per cent in the December quarter of 2016. It is a massive increase of 2.5 per cent in a single year from an already high level of unemployment. This government has failed the people of Western Australia and has certainly failed the people of Kwinana and of Parmelia. I hope we will do better in this budget. I look forward to seeing whether it will cut— (Time expired)

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