Jim Turnour (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Unemployment hit 13.8 per cent in Far North Queensland in September. Tourism and construction are being hard hit by the global recession. It defies belief that the opposition and the Leader of the Opposition are calling for the pulling of the rug out from underneath communities like Cairns by stopping the economic stimulus. It highlights how out of touch they are and what poor judgment they continue to show through this global recession.

The Rudd government are committed to continuing the rollout of our stimulus to support jobs in communities like mine in Cairns that are being hard hit by the global recession. We have over $150 million in education projects, and just last week I announced that more than 200 social housing projects will be built in Cairns. The government have identified Cairns as a priority employment region, and a local employment coordinator is working to support jobs in the region. The recent Keep Australia Working forum attended by the Minister for Employment Participation, Senator Arbib, Parliamentary Secretary Jason Clare and community and business leaders was a success and a good step in moving away from the boom-bust cycle we are experiencing in Cairns.

Since then I have continued to look for ways to support and create jobs in Cairns. I have been advocating for regulatory reform to encourage aviation into Cairns international airport. I want to ensure the local builders and tradies get the stimulus work. Many of these construction projects are only just getting underway, and later this month we will have a major projects forum to talk about tendering and quoting and have all of the peak contractors there to speak to local tradies and contractors. I recently had a roundtable in my office of local business leaders to look at us becoming a hub for the Pacific region and particularly taking up the opportunities in PNG with developments over there and the big LNG project. I am supporting the local Skill360 and TAFE campaign to get 50 apprentices in 15 days. I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement of the Apprentice Kickstart program, which is increasing our support for apprentices to almost $5,000 to businesses that take them on from 1 December.

In Canberra this week I have been speaking to a number of ministers, and I caught up with the Prime Minister quickly yesterday to talk about the unemployment problems in Cairns. Minister Arbib has committed to come back to Cairns after these parliamentary sittings and follow up on the Keep Cairns Working projects that we have going now. I have said to him that the jobs expo planned for next year is too late; we need to bring that forward. He has committed to bringing that forward to December. We are working with other ministers to see what we can do to make sure that we have mining companies and other people there to provide jobs in the local community, particularly with mining starting to get going in Northern Australia. It is critically important that we continue to work to diversify the Cairns economy. Jobs, though, are created in the private sector and we need to work constructively with the private sector. I thank Minister Arbib and other ministers for continuing to work with me and the local community on this very important work.