Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would hope that the local member representing the electorate where the job losses are to be faced tomorrow has been working closely with the union, Centrelink and financial advisers. Some of those losing work with this change will find a new direction. Others will move to compatible and technical employment. It's a tough time, but Aussies are tough. The change is stressful and emotional. But I find sometimes that Labor would rather the Australian nation spend valuable taxpayer dollars to support an industry that had been depending on a government subsidy for some years. They worry about closing certain industries, yet they had six years to incentivise the closing companies to develop alternative manufacturing pathways, as clearly needed to be done. The decision to close many of the operations was in progress during Labor's time in government. Australians themselves did not support our car industry. We didn't all buy Fords and Holdens, nor even Toyotas. A government cannot have a continuous subsidy scheme. There needs to be an operational change to build sustainability.

I sit here sometimes and I wonder about this, but today I think I finally discovered the answer. It seems to me that those with business experience who kept accounts information knew that everything that was positive was in the black. Money in the bank was written in black. But everything that had to be paid was in red. If the number in the black column was bigger than in the red column then we knew we were doing okay. But the Labor Party see the red side as the correct side—the bigger the number on the red side, the happier they are. In fact, when they see whopping big employment numbers on the black side, they think that's a bad thing and say the government is losing jobs. I get it. I finally understand. It's that they don't know how to read the accounting books properly. In my community, they know that not being able to read the accounting books properly is actually not a really good skill. Everyone knows that would be a rubbish strategy.

The Sydney Morning Herald on 16 September this year talked about all the additional jobs that have been created in the first eight months of the year. It was preceded earlier in June by information from Business Insider that again the jobs growth was huge. And today we announced we've got 371,500 more jobs. They are not equally distributed around our nation but certainly indicate we are going in the right direction. Some of the reasons for this increase in employment relate to the natural growth in the jobs market, the increased business confidence and the stability of a government intent on reducing the red side of the taxpayers' accounting books, but they also relate to active policy changes to encourage employers to take on more staff.

From 1 January this year, a number of incentives were put in place. A wage subsidy of up to $10,000 is now available to qualified businesses who employ eligible jobseekers. Some administrative changes also helped. Wage subsidies are being paid over six months instead of 12 months and an optional kickstart payment of up to 40 per cent of the wage subsidy is available for four weeks after the job begins. Minimum working hours are able to be 20 hours per week over the six-month term. There's a new youth bonus wage subsidy of up to $10,000 for employers who hire eligible jobseekers between 15 and 24 years of age. There are other sectors of the jobs market that also attract employer subsidies, and interested employers should contact their local job service providers.

I would suggest that Labor, rather than extolling the virtues of a budget that remains in the red, look more carefully at the opportunities for our working Australians and those wanting to work. Let's develop policies to grow enterprising skills among young employees, as these are likely to be the most critical skills for jobs of the future. Based on government projections, Australia will have between 5.6 million and 6.4 million job changes up to 2025. In 10 years Australia will have jobs we haven't dreamt of, but we know very many well-known occupations will still be in high demand.

My final point relates to the absolute correlation between the cost of energy and jobs. It's simple, really: the higher the price of energy, the fewer the jobs; and the lower the reliability of energy, the higher the employment numbers. Labor really need to look at the red and the black sides and realise that deficits and negative balances in government are not desirable.

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