Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

This week around 1,088 people woke up in the Illawarra, where I come from, without a home. They're no closer to getting a home this week than they were last week. They're homeless, and they're part of the hundreds of thousands of people in the same situation right around the country who are suffering. Not only are they locked out of the homebuyer market; they are locked out of the home rental market. In fact, if they picked up the newspaper on the weekend and looked for a place to rent, and that person was on income support, there would not have been one house available for them to rent. There is no hope now and no hope in the near future of any relief.

There are over 9,692 people in the Illawarra who are looking for a job. Over 80 per cent of those are long-term unemployed. They currently receive around $278 a week. I dare anybody in this place to say that they could survive on $278 a week. You couldn't pay your rent, let alone your electricity bills, let alone put food on the table on $278 a week. So, whilst the member for Berowra, who I think is an honourable person, comes to this place with a motion talking about how wonderful the economic management of this government is and how strong the fundamentals of the economy are, if you're one of those 9,692 people looking for a job, you're not seeing any of the strength. If you're one of those 1,088 people who are sleeping rough tonight, you're not seeing a lot of joy in the local economy or the national figures.

I noted with interest that the member's motion celebrated the fact that they're planning on creating 1.25 million more jobs over the next five years. It's unfortunate that when these motions are put on the Notice Paper it's often several weeks before they are debated, because a couple of days ago we received the latest figures on job creation. Deputy Speaker, you will have picked up, as I did, that over the last month a paltry 500 new jobs were created. So, if the last month is typical, it is going to take 208 years for the government to reach their 1.25 million jobs target, which many are suggesting is a low-ball target anyway. So, far from the economy being strong, it is in a very parlous state indeed.

It is not just Labor who is saying this; it is analysts. In fact, look at what the Reserve Bank is doing. Interest rates are at one per cent, with a further interest rate cut factored in by the market. Interest rates are at record lows. In fact, they are lower now than they were in the global financial crisis, when representatives from the coalition were saying they were at crisis rates. So, far from the economy being strong, it's very weak, and this government has no plans to do anything about it.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17 : 34 to 17 : 57

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