Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his previous answer and to his so-called fairness test. When will the Prime Minister produce a legislative bill for this House to consider rather than an advertising bill for the Australian taxpayer?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The legislation will be introduced into the House next Monday.

Margaret May (McPherson, 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 how a flexible workplace relations system has contributed to job creation, particularly for young Australians? Are there any threats to these jobs?

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 honourable member for McPherson for her question and note that she works incredibly hard in her electorate to help keep economic prosperity in place. In 1996, the unemployment rate in her electorate was 10 per cent. Today it is four per cent. That has come about because of the hard economic decisions made by this government and opposed by the Labor Party, which have helped to keep economic prosperity in place.

For young Australians, wages are up in real terms. There are more jobs than ever available for young Australians. In fact, if you look at it today, you will see that only one in 27 teenagers in Australia is now unemployed and looking for full-time work—a 3.7 per cent unemployment rate. Under the Howard government, youth wages have increased in real terms by almost one per cent a year, every year. Under the Labor Party, real wages went backwards for young people by 0.3 per cent every year. So wages for young Australians are growing three times faster under the Howard government. They have more jobs than ever. As the OECD found, when we got rid of those unfair dismissal laws, small business in particular had the courage to take a punt on employing someone who had never had a job—and that is good for young Australians. The Labor Party wants to reintroduce those unfair and discriminatory unfair dismissal laws to small business, and that will inevitably lead to fewer jobs for young Australians and fewer jobs for women.

I am asked what the great threat is. Unquestionably, the greatest threat is the Labor Party. The Labor Party’s industrial relations plan has been written, authorised and paid for by the trade union bosses who are now going to come into the parliament in waves like a tsunami at the next election. Isn’t it interesting that all of the trade union bosses have found themselves a safe Labor seat and these so-called high-profile candidates have been put into marginal seats or safe Liberal seats. It is very interesting, isn’t it?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The level of interjections is far too high.

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

Of course, the union bosses have always been about taking care of themselves.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Macklin interjecting

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

Order! The minister will resume his seat. The member for Jagajaga is going very close to being removed. The minister has the call. The minister will be heard.

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

When it comes to the threat to the economy, there is no greater threat than the Labor Party with its industrial relations regime. I picked up the Adelaide Advertiser this morning—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

I got through my Weeties—and one of its articles said: ‘Retail sector fears Labor’s AWA rollback’. I thought to myself: what does this mean? It went on to say:

State Retailers Association chief executive John Brownsea said … Businesses put a lot of time and money into establishing AWAs so to have them scrapped would be costly.

The article continues:

Information and Communication Technology Council of SA chairman Dean Littlefield said many of the state’s 1200 IT companies were small and needed flexibility in their employment contracts to remain profitable.

In the article, he is quoted as saying:

Unless flexibility is included in any approach to IR laws for small to medium businesses then there’s going to be real concerns that we will be priced out of the market.

They will be priced out of the market by the Labor Party’s industrial relations plan. The medical industry said in the foreseeable future AWAs could be a ‘useful way of attracting people to the industry’ and easing the doctor shortage. That is from the AMA. In relation to the hairdressing industry, Hair Machine managing director Vincent Renaldo said the Labor Party policy ‘would take away the choices of small businesses employing small numbers of staff and make employers uneasy about hiring’—like hiring young Australians who have never had a job and hiring women who have been out of the workforce. That is what the Labor Party wants to destroy. The restaurant and catering industry said that it will have a ‘huge impact on 35 to 40 per cent of restaurants which use AWAs’. The Labor Party policy will mean ‘lost money and productivity’. The road transport industry said: ‘Many companies across the road transport industry use AWAs. Abolishing AWAs could have a big impact on the industry.’

The Labor Party is a major threat to the Australian economy. The Labor Party is a major threat to jobs. The Labor party is happy to see people on lower wages. The Labor Party is happy to see people unemployed. And the Labor Party wants to see more strike action because that is what the union bosses want. That is bad for Australian workers and that is bad for the Australian economy.