Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to the Prime Minister’s recent statement:

I don’t want to be Prime Minister of a country that doesn’t make things anymore

Treasurer, Melba Industries in Victoria makes things. It employs 230 people who make, amongst other things, protective clothing for firefighters and military clothing for the SAS. Melba Industries has gone into voluntary administration. Treasurer, given your cash splash did not save the workers at Pacific Brands, how will it save the workers at Melba Industries?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow Treasurer for his question. You can almost hear the glee in the question.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Under standing orders 89 and 90, the opposition has found deeply offensive all week this imputation by the government of improper motives to our questions. I ask you to rule the Treasurer’s comments out of order and draw him back to the question. This is a serious issue. People’s lives and livelihoods are at risk and he should not be making light of it.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Sturt will resume his seat. There is no point of order. The Treasurer will respond to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It certainly is a very serious question—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Then take it seriously.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and it is something that the government takes very seriously. That is why we have said repeatedly that the global recession will have a negative impact on employment in Australia. The global recession will have that impact, and it is going to have tragic consequences for too many Australians. That is why the government is so steely in its resolve to support employment through stimulus packages—first of all the Economic Security Strategy brought down last October and, of course, our Nation Building and Jobs Plan. They are all designed to support employment in this economy in the middle of a global recession, because there is only one certainty here: we would be much worse off if the government had not acted. That is something that those opposite simply refuse to acknowledge. They refuse to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem and they refuse to put forward any alternative whatsoever. They are a policy free zone.

Looking at the pictures on television last night of those Pacific Brands workers only steels the government’s determination to act and steels the government’s determination to support employment. On this side of the House we will do everything within our power to support employment and to avoid unemployment. The only people in this country who want higher unemployment are those on that side of the House. There is something inherently un-Australian about the way they celebrate these figures. There most certainly is. Those opposite stand up and say they are for jobs and then come into the House and vote against jobs.

We saw comments today from a leading Australian businessman, who is not associated with this side of the House, Mr Corbett. He is probably one of our most respected businessmen in this country. He made this point—and it represents what the business community is saying, it represents what the Australian Industry Group is saying, it represents what the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is saying, it represents what the Business Council of Australia is saying and it represents what everybody in this country, except those on the opposite side of the House, is saying. He said:

Delay is very, very counterproductive to the end result.

Mr Corbett called on federal and state oppositions not to stand in the way of government attempts to stimulate the economy. Mr Corbett went on to make this very sensible point—and this is a complete repudiation of everything that has been said in this House and in the Senate by the Liberal and National parties. He said:

“I think, generally, economic theory, sensible theory is that a package is needed—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My question was about the workers of Melba Industries and what the government is going to do to protect their jobs.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer is responding to the question.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I most certainly am responding to the question, Mr Speaker, because what Mr Corbett is saying is what the government is saying—that is, that the government must do everything within its power to support employment. He went on to say:

“A package is needed and I think the community expects our governments operating in this crisis situation to act in a bipartisan way.”

That was very clearly directed at those opposite. Mr Corbett is a respected Australian businessman, but he is also somebody who has an enormous amount of economic knowledge and experience and, of course, is quite familiar to the member for Higgins—because Mr Corbett was appointed to the Reserve Bank board by the member for Higgins. So he is somebody whose views were once respected, at any rate, by those opposite. I guess what those quotes really demonstrate is one thing: how out of touch the opposition is with the scale of the challenge and the nature of the response that is required in this country, because we are in the middle of the sharpest synchronised contraction of the global economy in our lifetime.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The very important question regarding the future of people who have not got a job is not being answered and the minister should be asked to sit down, as you have the power to do.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for O’Connor will resume his seat. The Treasurer is responding to the question. The Treasurer, in conclusion.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Unfortunately, the nation is in the middle of a global recession, one that no nation in this world can avoid. No nation can avoid it, but what nations can do is moderate the impact. That is what this government moved to do swiftly and decisively last October not only with the stimulus package but with the bank guarantee, both in the end opposed by the opposition, and of course with our Nation Building and Jobs Plan of February—voted against in this parliament by those opposite. You would think that the Leader of the Opposition would know better, but of course he does not. He ought to behave better, but of course he does not. If the consensus of opinion that would normally be associated with the Liberal Party in this House could support the Australian government in our endeavours to combat unemployment and to support employment in this country, why can’t those opposite? I will tell you why they cannot: all they are concerned with is playing politics—point-scoring before policy—and they are unconcerned about what is occurring out there with those who have become unemployed.

This government will do everything within its power to support employment in the Australian community. We will work with the whole of the Australian community to achieve our objective. If that leaves the opposition out there point-scoring, so be it. We would rather see them on our side of the House supporting this, not opposing it. But they have taken a crude political position, which reflects very poorly on the Leader of the Opposition, who simply wants to point-score at a very important time in our history.

When President Obama spoke in the United States 24 hours ago—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They do not like it, Mr Speaker.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will bring his answer to a conclusion.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Their tawdry strategy is exposed before all. The country wants unity. They do not want to see point-scoring from the other side of the House, and the unemployed most certainly do not deserve it.