Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the Australian Jobs Bill, which passed this House last night? How will this bill give Australian workers and local businesses in my electorate and around the country the chance to benefit from major investment projects?

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

I thank the member for Corio for his question. Of course, his focus is on jobs and growth in his electorate, in the community that he serves. I understand that, because I am working with him and the member for Corangamite and also with Maria Vamvakinou, our local members in this House who represent the communities of Geelong and the broader region, and Broadmeadows. Of course, these communities are very focused on future sources of jobs and growth, following Ford's announcement.

Across the government's ranks we are continuously focused on jobs and growth, standing up for manufacturing workers, making sure that around the country manufacturing continues to be a source of strength in our economy not only in Geelong and Broadmeadows but around the nation. We are standing up for jobs and growth now, the way we have stood up for jobs and growth across the life of the Labor government. As a government we worked hard to protect jobs and growth during the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression: the global financial crisis. And, through working in partnership with industry and unions, we did ensure that, compared to other nations around the world, we protected jobs, which is why when we compare ourselves to other nations around the world we see that, unlike other countries, we are continuing to grow and, unlike other countries, we are continuing to create jobs.

We want to ensure that there are more jobs and growth for the future, which is why last night we were proud to bring to the House a bill that will focus on Australian jobs, linking local businesses to new business opportunities, supporting Australian businesses and making sure that local companies get a fair go to win contracts for major projects in infrastructure and mining.

The bill requires that major projects worth more than half a billion dollars have to adopt Australian industry participation plans setting out how they will give local companies a chance to win contracts—that is, a chance for jobs and a chance for growth. Put simply, this means extra work and extra jobs for Australians. We brought the legislation to the parliament because it is worthy of the parliament's support. I am very pleased that our proposition, the legislation that we brought to the parliament, was passed by this House yesterday.

I regret that it was opposed by the opposition. I believe this parliament should be united in focusing on jobs and growth. The government will always be focusing on jobs and growth because we understand how important it is to modern families around the nation that people have the benefits that come with work, and we will continue to work to create jobs.