Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion of censure against the Prime Minister.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Leader of the Opposition from moving the following motion forthwith:

That the House censures the Prime Minister for:

(1) failing to stand up and fight for Australian jobs at:

(a)Toyota;

(b) Electrolux;

(c) Simplot;

(d) Holden;

(e) Qantas;

(f) Ford;

(g) the Gove alumina refinery;

(h) SPC Ardmona; and

(i) countless other small businesses around Australia;

(2) failing to lead a Government united in supporting and protecting Australian manufacturing jobs;

(3) failing to support the workers, small businesses and communities affected by job losses;

(4) misleading the Australian people by blaming employees and their conditions for job losses; and

(5) having no plan for Australian jobs.

Today we have heard from the Minister for Industry, who I accept would appear to be periodically be on the side of the angels when it comes to standing up for Australian workers. He said that this is not a catastrophe. He said it is a challenge. Indeed, at the end of last year after parliament, the Prime Minister put his verbal arms around and used his rhetorical skills of comfort and empathy to the Holden workers, when he said, 'Good luck, Holden workers, you have been liberated.' Why didn't we think of that? I am sure they would like to liberate you from your job too. But the real issue here is that we see a government—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will relate it to the suspension motion.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for your guidance. I look forward to it this year. This is terrible news—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can be relying upon it. It will come.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is terrible news for families of Australians. This is terrible news. First of all, long before we get to the economic cost of this, let us talk about people. Let us not talk about politics. Can anyone opposite put themselves in the shoes of 2½ thousand people called into canteens yesterday at 4.30 and five o'clock to be told, 'No matter what you have done and how well you have done it, there is no more job for you.'? Can anyone opposite have sufficient empathy to imagine the conversations which happened around the dinner table that night as the kids ask the parents: 'I have just seen Mum or Dad's work on TV. What does this all mean?'? Has anyone got the empathy to understand that not only are there the direct jobs at Toyota but there are tens of thousands of people in small businesses making auto components all around Australia? Has anyone got the empathy to understand the 55-year-old process worker on an assembly line, who has been a productive worker, who can work in a team, who is told that. 'Yes, there will be another job for you.'?

The government in the past has said they can go uranium mining. The government in the past has said, 'You have got three years of a job and we will sort things out in between now and then.' Yet in question time we asked them for a plan, because after all the government says everyone knows the car industry has been going for ever. Well if the car industry has been going forever, where is your plan? There is no plan.

When we look at the blow beyond the sad news that goes to the individuals who are caught up in this turmoil beyond their control, we look at it and we see that again the government says, 'Oh, well, we've seen a reduction by a quarter in the size of the automotive industry.' Well let me tell you opposite: in your five months you have taken the other three-quarters of the car industry and you have wrecked it. When we talk about who is actually affected, it is not just people working on an assembly line at Fishermans Bend or in Altona. There are 7,000 people in Queensland who make auto components. There are 7,000 in Sydney who make auto components. Let me put this on record: this North Sydney based government does not understand manufacturing in the southern states of Australia. They have never seen a Victorian or South Australian job they would ever fight for other than their own marginal seat MPs.

Let us look at this marvellous deal which the government has done for the Australian taxpayer, saying, 'Well, we are not going to give any more subsidy here because we are too smart.' We understand that this is not good business. How much in tax revenue will disappear when these people do not have a job and Toyota leaves? What will be the cost of the retraining bill to retrain tens of thousands of people? How much extra in Centrelink payments will there be because those people opposite have never seen an Australian job worth fighting for? What is going to be the implications for people who do not have a job and have the misery of unemployment and who cannot accumulate superannuation? Will it be a further challenge in terms of the age pension? What about the thousands of small businesses who supply products in the automotive sector? They have been abandoned by those opposite. In 66 years in Australia, under Fraser, under Howard, under Menzies—at least we had a car industry, but not under Prime Minister Abbott. Toyota, for every dollar of government assistance they get, they invest $20. But these people opposite are so clever. They are so clever. They are so adult-like in the way they run the government. They have said to Toyota, 'Rather than give you our one dollar rather than give you a dollar from us we will get rid of the $20 you give us.' That is not mathematics. These people are creating a jobs deficit in this country that will take years and years to get out of.

Then we heard the argument that nothing was going to happen. These people got into office—and they wanted the white cars, the desks and to give lectures to half of Australia as they divide them—but they did not want to work hard to save jobs in Australia.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will come back to the substance of the motion. This is a suspension motion.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They say it is the dollar, 'We can't do anything about the dollar.' When it came to Cadbury they could do something about the dollar.

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

Madam Speaker, I hesitate to take a point of order on the Leader of the Opposition's speech, but the Leader of the Opposition has to make some effort to explain why standing orders should be suspended in order to allow this debate. Therefore, he has to indicate why his motion should have a higher priority than the rest of the government's agenda before the House. He does not just have to pay lip-service to your request for him to do so. Perhaps he would like to take some tutelage from other members on that side of the House who have done this before.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the House. He is quite correct. I have asked the Leader of the Opposition to refer his remarks to the substance of the motion. If he had done so, we would not have needed to have that point of order.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Standing orders should be suspended because we saw tens of thousands of jobs on the chopping block yesterday and that is an important issue. We know that it has happened on this government's watch. That is why the standing orders should be suspended. We had Holden, which the Treasurer goaded to go. The car components industry needs two large car manufacturers to be able to justify their volume and scale. They are in trouble. They have told that to Toyota. Toyota said yesterday, 'It's getting the scale that is the challenge, including the components suppliers.' This government have never seen an Australian job they want to fight for. Now they shrug their shoulders and say: 'It's just the cycle in things. Some jobs go and some jobs come.' That is not right. This tide of jobs is going overseas.

Before the election you could not get the now government, then opposition, spokespeople away. Between manufacturing workers and cameras were opposition spokespersons saying: 'We're on your side.' I bet a Tatts ticket that the Prime Minister will not be visiting Toyota workers any time in the next three years. There is no fear of being mugged by a Liberal spokesperson at a car company. That will be a government-free zone.

The real problem is that before the election this government said, 'We are for manufacturing.' They said in 2011—and the record speaks for itself—'Without a car industry, you can't be a First World economy.' They said, 'Without a car industry, a steel industry, a cement industry and an aluminium industry you can't be a sophisticated economy.' What great news it is now for Australia. These people are dumbing down the Australian economy. They have no plan for the future of jobs. What is worse, what is most culpable, about the crew opposite is that they will not fight.

This government have a choice. Do they want to race to the bottom or do they want to race to the top? Do they want this country to be a smarter country or a poorer country? They have surrendered the war to keep manufacturing in Australia and the list of battle defeats includes Electrolux, Simplot and the Gove refinery. Two thousand people are going to have to move out of Gove—and that will create a ghost town up there—because this government does not know how to stand up for people. The real shame of this government is that they think they can run Australia by dividing Australia. Let me give one warning to the government. You think you can divide Australia, can give up on manufacturing, can blame employees and can keep hunting down all those who disagree with you and blame them, but the Australian people will mark you down for the death of the car industry because we hold you responsible. (Time expired)

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

I am pleased to speak on the suspension of standing orders motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition because it gives me an opportunity to explain to the House why the standing orders should not be suspended. The government should be allowed to get on with its program of trying to fix the Australian economy and repair the damage left to us by a very bad government after six years of mismanagement and malpractice of the budget, industrial relations and the economy of this country. If the opposition were serious about trying to help the workers of Australia and were serious about economic growth, they would not be moving to suspend the standing orders and delay the House from getting on with its business; they would be allowing the House to get on with its program of abolishing the carbon tax, abolishing the minerals resource rent tax, bringing back the Australian Building and Construction Commission to put a tough cop on the industrial beat, introducing the registered organisations commission to stop dodgy union officials from ripping off the hardworking union members who join their unions, and supporting a Heydon royal commission into union governance and corruption.

If the opposition were serious about repairing the Australian economy and joining with the government, they would not be blocking savings measures in the Senate right now—$5 billion of their own savings measures they announced before the election. Inexplicably they now oppose these measures in the Senate along with other savings resolutions that we announced before the election and reaffirmed in MYEFO. If the opposition were serious about supporting jobs growth in Australia, they would not be wasting the time of the House on suspending the standing orders; they would be getting out of the way of the government in reducing regulation and red tape, and supporting the Minister for the Environment's program of a one-stop shop for environmental approvals across Australia so that development can get moving and so that the investment pipeline can start employing workers across Australia. But we know that the opposition will not do that, because they are not genuinely interested in workers' jobs at all. The most startling aspect of the Leader of the Opposition's motion is his breathtaking hypocrisy. He was the minister for workplace relations from December 2011 to September 2013. In that period unemployment climbed from 624,000 to 697,000. In that period 72,900 Australians lost their jobs, their employment, across many businesses—big, medium and small—around Australia when he was the minister for workplace relations. So 72,900 jobs hang around his neck that were lost on his watch. That is more people than the electors in Lingiari, that is more people than the electors in Solomon, that is more people than the electors in Bass, that is more people than the electors in Braddon, that is more people than the electors in Denison. The Leader of the Opposition is responsible for the loss of more jobs in more people's homes than the number of electors in the six seats of those members of the House.

So it is breathtaking in its extraordinariness that the Leader of the Opposition would come into this place and try to wear the clothes of concern for the workers of Australia, because it was under his watch that the Australian Building and Construction Commission was firstly defanged and then abolished. It was under his watch, in cahoots with Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister and the former member for Lalor, that he ensured the union movement got everything it wanted from the previous government. This was exposed by Martin Ferguson in Peter Hartcher's column in TheSydney Morning Herald about what went wrong for Labor. He pointed out that there was a secret meeting at Kirribilli House—another Kirribilli pact—in which Julia Gillard said to the union movement, 'In exchange for complete support against Kevin Rudd, we will do whatever you want us to do'. And so by the end of the Gillard government it was the union's agenda that was entirely in place.

After six years of a Labor government, we inherited a wreckage of an economy, a wreckage of a budget and an industrial relations system that was sclerotic, paralysed and in crisis. It is those problems that we are attempting to address through our policies. And so we are setting about repairing the budget; we are setting about clearing the hurdles for development approvals; we are setting about reducing red tape and regulation, not least of which is in my own portfolio through international education. I am working with the minister for immigration in streamlining the visa-processing arrangements so that more good Australian businesses can grow their businesses as we employ more Australians in international education. We are deregulating the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to allow more deregulation in higher education to grow the economy. And that is just in my portfolio.

We are reducing waste of taxpayers' dollars by stopping the boats through Operation Sovereign Borders. Over time we will save billions of dollars of taxpayers' money. We are getting on with the agenda, and the Labor Party should let us get on with our agenda. And this suspension of standing orders—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

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

delays the House.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sit down!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You don't have the call.

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

Get back to Toorak!

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Notwithstanding that in his last breath the Leader of the House started to refer to the motion before the House again, for some time he has drifted a very long way and should be reminded of the point of order that he actually brought to your attention. It probably applies more to himself than to anyone else.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will ignore the latter comment, but the substance of the point of order is reasonable. I ask the Leader of the House to return to the subject matter, which is the motion.

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

I thank you, Madam Speaker. My point to the House is that the opposition should not be wasting the time of this parliament on suspensions of standing orders in which the Leader of the Opposition does not really believe. The Labor Party does not really believe in it either, because when it was in government it did not put in place the policies that would grow employment in this country. It introduced a carbon tax. Our program is to repeal it and it should allow us to get on and do it. It introduced a minerals resource rent tax, which hurt investment and jobs in the mining sector. It should allow us to get on with our program of repealing it. It abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission. It should allow us to get on with our program of re-establishing it in order to boost productivity, because the last time there was an ABCC it saved consumers $7.5 billion a year, it increased productivity in the building construction industry by 16.8 per cent and days lost through industrial action declined dramatically when that ABCC was in place. So rather than moving suspensions of standing orders in which the opposition does not really believe, it should instead be allowing the parliament to get on with the job of putting a tough cop on the beat, abolishing the carbon tax, abolishing the minerals resource rent tax and allowing our deregulation agenda and our agenda to grow businesses and reinstall confidence.

If the opposition were serious about jobs, it would get on board with our program of creating jobs in infrastructure, letting us be the infrastructure government that it was not. If it did, if it got out of the way of the government's agenda—and it could do it tomorrow by passing legislation that is stuck in the Senate—we would have: the East West Link being built, 3,200 jobs in construction; the WestConnex, 10,000 jobs during construction; and the Pacific Highway upgrade, 8,000 jobs during construction. These are real jobs that the Leader of the Opposition and his team are standing in the way of by not allowing the government to get on with their parliamentary and legislative agenda. Instead, the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Leader of the Opposition is to turn up here as a union official continuing to support union officials; being an unreconstructed union leader running a protection racket for a protection racket.

If he wants to be the prime minister, he needs to learn to rise above his background. He cannot do so because he is entirely beholden to the union movement. When the union movement asks him to dance, he takes out his dancing shoes and shows that he can boogie with the best of them. When they name a tune, he starts making his moves, busting his moves on behalf of the union movement. If he were serious about growing the economy, if he were serious about jobs, he would not waste the House's time with suspensions of standing orders. Instead he would support our program, pass the legislation in the Senate and allow the economy to begin to grow and for Australians to have the jobs that they need and want.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This suspension motion needs to be passed so that we have an opportunity to debate the censure of the Prime Minister of this country. The reason we need to debate the censure of this Prime Minister is that on his watch, yesterday, we saw an iconic company decide to leave our shores for good. Of course, that comes off the back of the decision by Holden in December to do exactly that. The last time we were sitting here, we watched the spectacle of the Treasurer of this country goading Holden to leave this country, and they did. Other than creating terrible circumstances for every Holden worker in Australia, that created a situation where it was believed that this government had no appetite for the car industry. That is what we saw. Unfortunately, it was quite inevitable, given the government's positioning, rhetoric and lack of support for the car industry, that Toyota would decide to leave this country, as they did, tragically, yesterday.

We have seen so many companies decide to leave or to close down as a result of the election of this government. We should not be that surprised. Since September we have seen a net loss of 54,000 full-time jobs in in this country. Before the election, the Prime Minister promised there would be one million jobs in five years. We should be heading towards 100,000 jobs in the first six months of this term. We are not heading towards 100,000 jobs in the first six months of this term; we are already 54,000 full-time jobs down. That is because this government has no regard for companies or for workers in this country. Instead, it has an ideological motive to go after its political opponents.

Yesterday, when the company was making an announcement, the Prime Minister was making an entirely different announcement. He announced a political stunt to effectively go after the people he does not like. If he was fair dinkum about engaging in criminal matters, he would refer those matters to the police and provide the resources to the police and the Australian Crime Commission. Instead, the Prime Minister was out yesterday at a doorstop, announcing what is a political stunt, a political exercise, and a highly expensive use of taxpayers' money. At the same time, Toyota was making the announcement that this company was leaving this country for good.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I hesitate to interrupt the member for Gorton, but obviously he has to try and explain to the parliament why the suspension of standing orders should be agreed to, because this item of business takes priority over all others. When I was in opposition I used to routinely attempt to do that; he is making no attempt to do that.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the House. I would ask the member for Gorton to address the suspension.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very happy to explain, if indeed the member is too obtuse to understand this.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton will resume his seat. I directed him to address his remarks to the substance of the motion, not to be insulting.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the member is insulted, I am afraid that is—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I took the insult to come towards me, not towards the member. So perhaps you could apologise to me, Member for Gorton.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sorry, Madam Speaker.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reason that we need to move the suspension of standing orders is that we need to debate the censuring of this Prime Minister, because he has been asleep on his watch, while thousands of Australian workers have lost their jobs. There is also the fact that the government cannot even see that this is such an important day, such a tragic day. They cannot explain why we would want to move a censure motion to have a debate in this place. We wanted to censure the Prime Minister. They chose to deny us that, and so, of course, we are debating this.

But let's be very clear. In December, we saw a Treasurer goad an iconic company about them leaving our shores, and they decided to leave. Yesterday, we saw Toyota follow Holden out the door, leaving thousands and thousands of workers without jobs and leaving hundreds of thousands of workers without any certainty for the future. (Time expired)

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.