Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I sometimes think that the things most important to my electorate, in order of priority, are jobs, jobs and jobs. That's why I rise to speak in support of this motion which has been brought by the member for Forrest. The reality is that, since coming to government in 2013, we've created over a million new jobs. Before those opposite say, 'They're casualised jobs; they're not significant,' I'll remind them that 80 per cent of those jobs are full time. Before they say, 'Yes, but you're not assisting with the equitable distribution of those jobs between genders,' I will remind them that the majority of those people who were successful in gaining full-time employment were, in fact, women.

That in itself is a significant achievement—that is a million jobs—bearing in mind we set ourselves that Herculean target when we came to government. But I'm more focused on the trajectory. In the last 12 months, over 400,000 jobs have been created. In effect, when we came to government we set ourselves a plan. We sat down, as anyone would, whether in government or in private business, and said, 'How are we going to achieve that objective?' We set about doing the things necessary: cutting red tape and establishing free trade agreements with the northern Asian powerhouse economies. And all of that has paid dividends. It has paid dividends in terms of job creation.

The member for Chifley was quite critical. He said, 'Yes, but the unemployment rate hasn't shifted.' I say to the member for Chifley: if we hadn't created those million jobs, imagine where the unemployment rate would be. Just like those on this side earlier, I agree: there's much more work to be done. I would love to see our nation at full employment, or as close to that as it practically could be. But to deride the efforts of our government, as those opposite are trying to do, is simply to find foul because they perceive that as their role in this place.

I say this to members opposite: I have the great privilege of representing what I believe to be one of the greatest electorates in the country. I'm sure those opposite believe that they do as well. But one of the things I can say about my electorate is that on the back of the free trade agreements and the opportunities, particularly, to put food and fibre into our northern markets via free trade agreements, we now have an insatiable demand for labour. It is literally insatiable. There are communities in my electorate—and I can mention them; in the Tatiara and in other places—where, quite frankly, what is holding back business investment decisions today is the concern that those investors have that there won't be staff. Those small and medium businesses that are working to fill this demand for food and fibre that has presented itself globally are reluctant to make that investment because they are worried that if they make this investment there won't be staff to work in these communities. This is a plea: if you are genuine about finding a job, then come to our electorate. Work in some of the roles that are desperate for staff.

I can talk about the abattoir sector. Those opposite would know that an abattoir in my electorate, a significant one, recently burnt down and we are doing our best to make sure it's rebuilt. But that abattoir is a classic example of what is symptomatic in this industry across the country. Of the 1,500 workers at that site, 1,000 of them were foreign workers. That's not because the operators of that abattoir had a penchant towards employing foreign labour, despite what the union tries to suggest, but, rather, because they cannot source workers to work in that industry.

What I say is that we have met our target. We set ourselves the Herculean target of a million jobs. We achieved that target and the trajectory is accelerating, which is always good news, but there is more to do. We acknowledge that there is more to do, because we won't be satisfied until we've got as close to the natural rate of unemployment in this country as we practically can. I ask those opposite, who'd rather spend their time bemoaning the achievement, to work with us, to see if we can go even deeper into this long list of unemployed Australians.

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