Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to today's labour market data, which shows that, since her carbon and mining taxes were introduced, the unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in 2½ years, with over 22,000 more Australians now unemployed. Is the Prime Minister now prepared to accept that the carbon and mining taxes are increasing costs, discouraging investment and hurting the job security of Australian workers?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition clearly misunderstands today's employment figures. I believe it is very important that Australians have the facts about these employment figures, rather than hearing the Leader of the Opposition's misrepresentations. Over 32,000 full-time jobs were created in September.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me repeat that for opposition members who were screaming instead of listening: over 32,000 full-time jobs were created in September. There are 32,000 Australians who are now in full-time work. For those Australians, that is a life-changing moment, and it ought to be received as such by the opposition. Rather than interjecting or talking loudly amongst themselves, they should be celebrating the fact that 32,000 Australians got full-time work.

The headline figure for the unemployment data released today has been affected by increasing participation. What that means is that more people have gone to look for work; more people want to get jobs. That is the meaning of the participation rate. When we look at today's figures very specifically—and I think we owe it to Australians to do this—we can see that nearly two-thirds of the increase in unemployed persons can be accounted for by the result in Queensland. I think anybody who knows what is happening in Queensland would know why that is occurring. The explanation is a two-word explanation: Campbell Newman. Campbell Newman and his approach to sacking Queenslanders and putting them into unemployment is showing, and showing in these figures. The kinds of things that Liberals do once they are in government—cutting jobs, cutting work, throwing Australians onto the unemployment queue—is showing in the state of Queensland. What we already know from the Leader of the Opposition is: he endorses this approach and, as Prime Minister, would be out there drafting redundancy notices for over 12,000 public servants.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will return to the question before the chair.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So, on the unemployment data, what this should cause people to reflect on is the damage Liberals do in government to the jobs of working Australians. Look at the Queensland figures. There is the proof.