Kym Richardson (Kingston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister inform the House of how a strong economy can ensure sustained employment opportunities? Are there any threats to these opportunities?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kingston for his question and note that in 1996 the unemployment rate in Kingston was 11.6 per cent and today it is still too high but it is down to 6.8 per cent. So it has come off around five per cent in the last 11 years.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released a labour force survey that indicates that the number of persons with marginal attachment to the labour force has dropped. That is good news. There are more people going into work, and people who were previously discouraged from entering the workforce are no longer discouraged. In fact, only in the last 12 months, from September 2006, we saw the number of people discouraged from entering the workforce drop by about 90,000. That is a good story. The reason why it is a good story is that the economy is strong. The economy is strong for a number of reasons. Firstly, the government is prepared to undertake tough measures, difficult measures, that help to deliver a stronger economy such as tax reform, such as getting the budget into surplus and so on. No reform has had a more significant impact in the last 12 months than the introduction of Work Choices. Those laws have helped to free up the marketplace, have helped to make for a more flexible working environment and have helped to encourage business to employ more people, particularly those who have been out of the workforce for a while.

I am asked about threats to the strong economy. No greater threat exists than the Labor Party being elected into federal government, particularly with what seems to be the ninth version, or maybe it is the 10th version, of their industrial relations policy. I did see the Australian yesterday. As the Prime Minister pointed out, on the front page of the Australian was a story by Steve Lewis. ‘Rudd set for brawl with Left’ was the headline. He says the Labor policy ‘jettisons previous discomfort with the casualisation of the workforce in a move that will alienate left-wing unions’ such as the ACTU. So the Labor Party is embracing casualisation.

I thought, ‘I have to get a copy of this policy.’ I went in search of it. I came across the latest version and could not find anything about casualisation—not a word. So either Steve Lewis is wrong—and I do not believe Steve is wrong; he is not shaking his head. Either Steve Lewis is wrong—and I find that very difficult to believe; when it comes to information from the Labor Party, I do not believe it—or alternatively the Labor Party deleted all references to casual labour. I said to myself, ‘Why would they do that?’ I looked in the Australian today and saw the headline ‘Rudd backs down on casuals’. I thought, ‘Why would he back down on casuals?’

I found an article in the Age which quotes the chief spokesperson for the Labor Party on industrial relations, ACTU President Sharan Burrow. Shazza is back in town. You can create this mental picture. Last night Shazza belts down the door on the way into Kevin Rudd’s office, puts him in a half-nelson—with not a hair out of place from the Leader of the Opposition at this time—and says: ‘Hey, listen, Kev. We’re going to tell you what a Kevin is: a Kevin is when you back down on a policy within 12 hours. That is what a Kevin is. A Kevin is where we call the shots as union bosses and you go to the people of Australia and you try to spin them a line. At the end of the day we run the Labor Party.’

Do you know what? The union bosses pay for the Labor Party’s campaign. The union bosses set the Labor Party’s policy. And now the union bosses want to come in and represent the Labor Party in parliament. It is not the Australian Labor Party; it is the Australian union party. That is why Greg Combet wants to come into parliament. That is why all the union bosses want to come into parliament. That is why Dougie Cameron wants to come into parliament. And that is why the Leader of the Opposition changed his policy within 12 hours.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the Leader of the Opposition I remind the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations that he should use a member’s seat or his title when he refers to him.