Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I truly thank you, Deputy Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to speak about this government's poor record on productivity, economic growth and wages. As the Productivity Commission reported in June, productivity growth in our nation has basically stalled. After a generation of labour productivity that grew by almost two per cent a year, year on year, growth has now tumbled to 0.2 per cent on the watch of those opposite. Productivity is slipping in farming, mining, construction, transport, retail and labour. Why is this important? A more productive can look after and be more generous to those disadvantaged people that the member for fanner was talking about, that those opposite don't want to hear about. It can also build the social housing that the member for Newcastle was just talking about. We can reduce our impact on the natural environment and we can play a bigger role in world affairs. Without rising productivity, wages will eventually stagnate, as they are starting to do—and those opposite aren't helping by cutting penalty rates—and the standard of living in this country, the lucky country, will stop increasing. Productivity is the engine of the economy.

These findings that we have heard about recently are adding to the mountain of evidence that, as we have just heard, those opposite have a political plan but they don't have an economic plan to help lift productivity, fight wage stagnation and boost our economy's performance. This is concerning to all Australians. I can tell you on behalf of Territorians, who are doing it tough, that the slogans about certainty and stability the government keeps spewing out in question time do nothing to fill their fridges, pay their bills or educate their kids.

Those opposite can repeat all they like that they know how to manage the economy—as if it some magic spell that will have the Australian people forget about what their lived experience is every day. It can't, and Australians know that. After six years of coalition rule, the fact that people's lived experiences in this country are not what the government is suggesting they are—and they don't want to hear stories about those who are doing it tough—just says that this is marketing spin. Marketing spin—funded empathy, unfunded empathy or whatever they want to go on about—is not going to help 1.8 million Australians find work.

Real economic indicators—the IMF, Deloittes and the World Bank—are all saying that instead of kicking funding promises down the road, particularly in infrastructure, the government should get on and start spending some of the funds from the Australian taxpayer that they have already promised they would spend.

I am glad the Prime Minister has joined us in the chamber. There have been delays to our $100 million City Deal. Kakadu funding that's been promised continues to be kicked down the road. There have been hints of funding for a nation-building shiplift for Darwin harbour, but that's all we hear—hints. There's the curious case of the ever-shrinking defence infrastructure promises in the NT. Those promises are being revised down at exactly the same time as the Reserve Bank is saying those opposite should start doing some of the infrastructure spending they have already promised.

I asked the Prime Minister during question time why it is that only $50 million of the $5 billion North Australian Infrastructure Fund has been spent since it was announced in 2015. That's not a great track record on infrastructure spending. We want to see it improve, and it's not just us. It's the Reserve Bank of Australia that is saying it would be smart.

The lived experience of Australians is being overlooked by a government that is focused on spin. It needs to do more to lift productivity and get wages moving.

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