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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for McMahon proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The failure of the Government to have a plan for the Australian economy and Australian jobs

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When it comes to economic management, it is very clear that the Liberal Party had a plan to win the last election but did not have a plan for government. They know how to fight for votes; they do not know how to fight for jobs. I have to confess—and some of my colleagues might be disappointed in this—that I have some sympathy for the Liberal Party in this regard, because it has all proven to be a lot harder than they thought it would.

They thought their election would magically improve the economy. They thought that, by their very genius, by their very being, the economy would improve the day after the election—that they would not have to do anything about it. The now Treasurer, when he was shadow Treasurer, said:

I think companies will unleash their balance sheets, and I think consumers will as well if there is a change of government.

The now Prime Minister—and this is even better—said:

I am confident that should there be a change of government later in the year there will be an instantaneous adrenaline charge in our economy.

This was going to happen just by the very election of a Liberal government!

It is time to check in and see how that instantaneous adrenaline charge is coming along. When I pointed out to the Treasurer, when he was shadow Treasurer, that putting a levy on big business and getting rid of franking credits would impact on the retirement incomes of millions of Australians, he said: 'No, you do not understand—the economy is going to be so much better under us. Profits are going to be higher and everything will be all right. Don't worry about the fact that we are increasing taxes. Just don't worry about that.' Just by their very election they were going to make things better.

But have things got better with the election of the Abbott government? Let us check in and have a look. We have seen 63,000 full-time jobs lost since the election of the Abbott government. As the member for Kingsford Smith reminds us, they promised to create a million over five years, yet we have seen 63,000 go. These job losses are not the job losses that have recently been announced—not the job losses announced at Holden or Qantas, where people are waiting to know their fate—these are jobs that are already gone. They have already disappeared from the Australian economy. The recent announcements of job losses are over and above that. These figures see 2013 as the worst calendar year for job losses since 1992—and almost all of those job losses occurred under the watch of the Liberal government. There were 14,000 job losses in all the months up until September and well over 50,000 in the months between September and Christmas.

Last week some figures came out on capital expenditure. Capital expenditure is a very important indicator of the health of the economy. The figures tell us whether businesses are investing, whether businesses are growing. The figures showed a decline in capital investment of 5.2 per cent. Some adrenaline! Some turbocharge to the economy resulting from the election of the Abbott government! The reported fall in capital expenditure is the worst outcome since the global financial crisis. I asked the Prime Minister about this in the House last week and he gave—and I say this objectively—one of the most bizarre answers ever to be given at that dispatch box. The Prime Minister told us:

We are marching to the rescue of this nation from the wreckage that we inherited from members opposite.

They must sing 'Onward Liberal Soldiers' at the beginning of every party meeting as they march to the rescue of the nation—to save us from the wreckage they say the previous government left them.

Let us have a look at the state of the economy they inherited. The International Monetary Fund said in a report that Australia's economy was growing and that it had low public debt, low unemployment compared to comparable countries and inflation well under control. This was at the end of Labor's period in office. But that is not good enough for this government and this Treasurer. No, they had to bring out a midyear economic forecast to match their rhetoric about the state of the economy they had inherited. We saw very interesting evidence before the Senate estimates committee last week. We saw Dr Tune provide evidence to the Senate that the forecasts and the assumptions in the midyear economic forecast were put in at the discretion of the government—not the Department of Finance, not the Treasury, but at the discretion of the government.

Madam Speaker, I am going to seek your guidance because I am going to quote from an article by Michael Pascoe which was published yesterday. It says:

No matter how much he scowls, the evidence keeps mounting that his MYEFO (mid-year economic and fiscal outlook) forecasts were a crock.

I presume that is parliamentary, Madam Speaker. I am quoting from an article. But I will take your guidance if you choose to give it.

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

I will give you some guidance. The bottom line is that you cannot use unparliamentary language, but in the circumstances there is nothing wrong with the quote.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am glad you endorse the quote.

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

Order! That is just too smug by half. The member for McMahon will withdraw.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw, Madam Speaker. Mr Pascoe went on to say:

So where's the ''budget crisis'' Hockey was spouting last May or the more general ''budget emergency'' that has become a government catch cry? It doesn't exist as advertised.

We saw the executive director of Fiscal Group of the Treasury, Mr Ray, again provide evidence to the Senate estimates committee that the budget position was sound.

We need to see from this government a plan in order to ensure that they continue to grow the economy and that jobs are created. I am going to say that I agree with the Treasurer. He says that today's national accounts figures need to be improved on. They do. He says that they do not provide enough economic growth to create enough jobs for unemployment to go down. He is right; I agree—and we need to see a plan to fix it. One plan would be good. The Treasurer and the Prime Minister like to have parallel plans when it comes to big issues facing the nation and they leak against each other and they background and they speculate about what the plans are going to be.

But how about a plan which did not see business tax increased by putting a levy on Australia's businesses? How about a plan which does not see an increase in small business tax by reversing Labor's pro-small business reforms? How about a plan which does not see businesses pay more tax because loss carry-back is abolished under this government? We need to see an adrenaline charge to investment. We need to see the reduction in mining investment being made up for in other sectors of the economy. Do you do that by increasing taxes, by putting a tax on business to pay for the $5 billion a year Paid Parental Leave scheme? Is that how you get an adrenaline charge in the economy? Do you do that by saying to Australia's self-funded retirees and superannuants, 'We are going to tax you more so that we can give $75,000 cheque to millionaires?' Is that how you turbocharge the economy? Is that how you get more investment from the non-mining sector? No, it is not. We need to see a plan that sees the rest of the economy making up for the decline in investment from the mining sector.

But what do we get from this government? All we get is blame. It is somebody else's fault. It is Labor's fault. It is Gough Whitlam's fault. It is Ben Chifley's fault. It is somebody else's fault. Or it is the workers' fault: the workers are paid too much on $50,000 a year. Or there is a wages explosion happening, the Minister for Workplace Relations tells us, a wages explosion which just happens to see the lowest wages growth since records began, which sees wages growing at 2.6 per cent per annum. Some explosion in wages! All we see is blame and excuses. From a government which told us there would be no surprises and no excuses, we see exactly the opposite. As the parliamentary secretary to the shadow Treasurer says, the Prime Minister has got a sign on his desk: the buck stops somewhere else. The buck stops somewhere else when it comes to this Prime Minister. He has to explain to the Australian people what his plan for their future is. Is it to put a levy on business? Yes, it is. How does that create jobs? He is yet to tell us. He has not faced the workers who have lost their jobs. He has not been to Geelong, as the Leader of the Opposition and I, Senator Carr and the member for Corio have and spoken to those workers—

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He lives there.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister lives in Geelong, apparently, the member for Corangamite tells us. That is quite a revelation—great news, or maybe not for the people of Geelong, but never mind. More importantly, he needs to provide a plan for the future. He needs to provide a plan for Australian jobs, because all he has provided so far is excuses, and pathetic ones at that.

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a disappointing effort that was. It just shows you that Labor has learnt nothing. In fact, what we just heard from the shadow Treasurer is testimony to Labor's contribution in this parliament: stuck in the past, trying to defend its poor and punishing legacy and performing as if parliamentary life is a picket line. We did not hear one constructive idea whatsoever from Labor, and that does reflect where they are at, still licking their wounds after the electorate of Australia said, 'Enough is enough of this poor government that is driving our economy and our opportunities into a hole.' That is what they said about Labor and that is why the election was a resounding message that change was required.

What we have just heard from the shadow Treasurer is that apparently everything was just peachy, everything was just spectacular, everything was just where it wanted to be in the sweet numbers coming out of Labor. Why on earth would the electorate have wanted to change such a great bequest of genius and governance? Why? Because that was not the case at all. What we saw from Labor was 200,000 more unemployed people than was the case when they were elected, gross debt projected to rise on Labor's policy settings to $667 billion. Let us make it easy for those opposite, let us round it up to $700 billion to give you an idea. That number does not sound too big, does it, but it is actually seven with 11 zeros after it. It is an enormous number, and that is the bequest that Labor left. We saw cumulative deficits adding challenges and financial cost and burden not only to future generations but undermining our choices about what to do with the resources that are available to the government. The 50,000 illegal arrivals, the biggest carbon tax you have ever seen, 412,000 jobs lost in small business. I have made the point in this place that a small business job is a local job, a small business job is an Australian job. Do you know why Labor does not care about them? Because they are probably not a union job. The only time you hear Labor talk about a job is when they have been wound up by their union overlords to make a big deal and come back into this place as if this is an extension of the picket line. Well, life is not like that, Labor.

Let me share with you a simple observation that the Australian electorate sought to share with your previous government at the election: things were not going great, things were not peachy. Many of those economic trajectories that we went to the election to change, to seek a mandate to go about things differently to build a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure nation where opportunity is within reach, where we could be our very best. That is what they voted for. They voted for something that Labor did not have, and that is a plan. We had a plan. We have a plan. This continues to be our guiding plan.

Mr Husic interjecting—

Those opposite might heckle. They have got nothing to wave around except an appalling legacy and this commentary and this obfuscation as we as a nation know and this government knows that things need to be changed. We cannot stay on the trajectory that Labor had this nation on. We have outlined to you the financial problems you were creating and the embedded obstacles and costs that are costing jobs long after you went. The world does not change immediately, and you seem to think you should be proud of yourselves, because you are standing in the road of the very changes that are needed to build opportunity, create jobs growth in this economy and put our nation back on track. That is Labor's entire raison d'etre these days: be stuck in the past, try to account for their woeful legacy, perform as if life is a picket line and obstruct the very plan that needs to be implemented.

What is that plan about? The plan that the Abbott government is working very hard every day to implement is about seeing to it that workers and job seekers in Australia have more opportunities to build that stronger, more prosperous economy. That is why we want to scrap the carbon tax. What is it about Labor and this friendless tax that works as a reverse tariff and is increasing our challenge to be competitive and secure opportunities for ourselves? Why do Labor want to keep saddling up our economy with a tax that is not even effective in doing much about climate change but is particularly punishing and hostile to jobs, to opportunities and to small business? What do Labor want to do? They come in here wanting to talk about jobs and people's livelihoods and then do all they can to gum up policy measures that are designed to improve job prospects for our country, enhance people's livelihoods and build our economy. We can deliver opportunities through growth, by giving the economy the support it needs so people will invest and by having an adult government that does not make things up on the run but does its predictable work and consults with those that are interested and have expertise rather than coming in with a thought bubble masquerading as a policy idea—doing the hard work of policy, not the lazy Labor approach of chasing headlines as some kind of substitute for sound government. That is why we want to get rid of the carbon tax.

It is as if you do not believe the electorate but live in some la-la land where the carbon tax is actually helpful to people making a decision to invest or employ and is helpful to the viability of businesses that are an essential precondition to someone having a job. The show needs to be profitable, you guys. You might not know a private sector business unless you are out on the picket line in front of one, but there need to be viable businesses, and then opportunities are available, jobs can be provided and incomes can be paid. That is how it works. It is not that complicated. All the carbon tax does is to make that process more difficult and put us at a disadvantage, particularly in manufacturing. The Labor Party wring their hands, but manufacturers need to be world class every day; otherwise we do not secure the opportunities that are within our reach, because we disadvantage ourselves in that contest for work and the opportunity that is there. We want to make it our own, but you want to make it harder. You want to keep the carbon tax.

Today you have heard this chorus from the leading business groups, the representatives of those that create the private sector opportunities, saying: 'Labor, please back the carbon tax repeal in the Senate. Please do something constructive and helpful for jobs in the economy. Please do something to address the already difficult conditions that were created by Labor mismanagement and poor governance over the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government.' That is what they are saying, and they are also saying, 'Let the government get on with implementing its plan.' Is the only solution that Labor has to stand in the road of a plan that is designed to fix the damage that you have inflicted on this economy? Is that your strategy? Is your basic politicking over there on the Labor side to play spoiler for all of the action that you know is needed and that the electorate voted for when they said, 'Please, no more of the same; you've got us on a trajectory under Labor of loss of jobs, increasing numbers of unemployed and people uncertain about their economic futures'? Where is the merit in that argument of simply obstructing the work that needs to be done by a government that went to the electorate with a plan?

You have no plan. Let us get on with scrapping the carbon and mining taxes, slashing red tape, lowering taxes, reimposing the rule of law on construction sites, and creating a fair and competitive economy where big and small businesses that are efficient have the opportunity to compete. Let us get on with recognising that small business is the engine room of the economy and that growth in employment is so crucial. Why are you standing in the road of measures that are designed to support, and when implemented will support, small business in that crucial role of carrying the economy and delivering livelihoods and opportunities to our community? That is our plan. Labor has no plan. It has an excuse for its time in government. It has a blind spot about the consequences of its failed policy. It has nothing to offer in terms of a better policy prescription than our plan. All it wants to do is get in the road of the very plan that offers the best hope, reward and opportunity pathway for our country.

Labor have come in here with a motion in which they suggest they want to have a conversation about a plan for our economy and jobs, and the shadow Treasurer has not managed to make a single constructive contribution about the very motion he brings in here. Instead he has offered a commentary, cherry-picking a little bit of a remark here or something there that might be part of the doom and gloom agenda that Labor are trying to perpetrate across this economy when we have important work to do. We want to make changes. That is what the plan is about. We want to improve the settings for jobs and opportunity. That is what drives us. We want to secure jobs—better paying jobs—into the future, because we can compete, win work and profit from our enterprise. And what do Labor want to do? Just stand in the road of all of that effort.

So I have a bit of a tip here: why doesn't Labor recognise that the Abbott government is the government that we promised to be, that our plan is the plan that we articulated in great detail and that we are implementing the agenda that the Australian public voted for? Why don't you do that, Labor Party—or are you instead going to go around, find any opportunity for misery, disadvantage or lost opportunity, ignore the fact that those things are on the back of Labor's policy settings, and then stand in the road of the very tonic and strategy for the future that will bring about the stronger economy and jobs that this side of the parliament actually wants? (Time expired)

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a Liberal government that today should be in absolute shock and shame. In fact, it should be coming in here and saying sorry to the Australian people for misleading them on jobs and to the economy for wrecking it. In a short period of six months, it has done more damage to this economy than could ever have been contemplated in the past. It is a government that, if it were not so arrogant, would be completely delusional. It is delusional about its own ability, about the economy, about jobs and particularly about the national interest. As we heard from the shadow Treasurer, the government just thought that, by having a plan to get to government, all the work was done. All it needed to do was get elected and the rest would just do itself.

You can see it every day in here with the pomp, the arrogance, the way that the ministers carry themselves and particularly the Prime Minister. He does not have anything to do. He has nothing to answer for, nothing to question, nothing to act on. 'Liberate everyone,' he says. 'Let's just liberate the economy and it'll fix itself. Let's liberate the workers from a job and they'll be better off because there must be a better job. Let's just liberate the economy. Let's just liberate everything.' Every answer to every problem that this government has to face has a simple solution. We just heard it from the Minister for Small Business. It is very simple: it will just fix itself. Let us just liberate the economy and it will fix itself.

I say that the Liberals should be in shock. They should actually be apologising. Somehow they think that from here, from this chamber, they are going to make the world a better place. The whole world would be a better place if only we could liberate Qantas from the future—liberate Qantas workers from their jobs! Well, we are starting to see the evidence of that now.

They came in on a promise to deliver one million jobs. They somehow would magically create a million jobs, even though for six years in opposition they always said that governments do not create jobs—except that now, coming into government, they say they create jobs. But we have seen the exact opposite. Their version of creating jobs is to liberate people from them. It just brings to my mind the image of William Wallace in Braveheart being liberated. When he was being liberated and being garrotted, he screamed, 'Freedom!' They must have this image over there that 5,000 Qantas workers, when they are being garrotted and Qantas is being garrotted, are somehow going to scream out: 'Freedom! We've been liberated from our jobs! How lucky are we!' Well, I think they might have something different in mind. There is no liberation for Qantas. There is no liberation for the economy. People are not being liberated from their jobs to find a better job. People will actually struggle and will suffer.

They think the answer to manufacturing, to innovation and to competition is just to give up. They do not actually have a plan: 'Let's just liberate manufacturing from itself, and it'll fix itself.' They talk about having a plan, but it is the Jaymie Diaz plan, a glossy brochure filled with emptiness. There is just nothing in it. How many pages? It was so blank that even Jaymie Diaz couldn't remember what was in it—of course, because it was blank. Saying you have a plan does not of itself mean you do. They come in here and keep saying, 'We have a plan.' I am yet to hear what it is, and I think the Qantas workers of this country want to know what it is. I think manufacturing in this country want to know what that plan is.

But, if the plan is simply to just give up, if the plan simply is to go out to the marketplace and mislead the market—lead them down the path where they believed something would happen, in the case of Qantas, only to find that was not the case, to find in fact that something very different would happen—I think that is a real problem. If the government were to apply the same corporate governance rules as it wants on super funds, unions, workers and everybody else—if they applied those same rules to themselves in terms of Qantas—you would find the regulator slapping them with a breach of corporate governance, with an enforceable undertaking, and saying, 'You've misled the market,' because that is exactly what the Liberal government have done.

So it is not good news. While they kept trashing the economy every single day for six years—the chief job of the then opposition leader was to come into this place and trash the economy, trash the national interest, trash jobs and trash everything he could—despite all of that and despite a global financial crisis, the worst in 75 years, Labor maintained uninterrupted economic growth for 22 continuous years. Despite all the efforts of this mob—and it is true; it is just a fact—22 uninterrupted years of economic growth continued under Labor for the six years we were in government. And, despite the fact that they have been elected for six months, it continues.

They are trying hard. They are trying to be the first government in 22 years to break that uninterrupted growth and smash it, smash manufacturing and smash Qantas. The national interest does not matter anymore. And, when it comes to small business, the hide of them to come in here and say they are their best friend, because they are taking away everything we did for direct assistance to small business! Shame on you, Liberals!

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is extraordinary to see this matter of public interest that has been put before the House. The Labor Party, I think, suffer from a little bit of what those in psychological circles call projection. The reality is that the Australian Labor Party for six years said that they had a plan for Australia. Those on this side of the House would recall that Labor's plan for Australia was to make sure that we were environmental contributors to the world's biggest carbon tax. Labor's plan for Australia was to introduce a superprofits tax. Originally it was going to be on banks, and then it was going to be on mining companies. That in some way was going to ensure the future guaranteed prosperity of our nation. Labor's plan for Australia was to borrow money at a record pace for our nation, indebting future generations of Australians for decades as part of their quest to keep the largesse going. Labor's plan was for the glorious social project to redistribute wealth across the top echelon and down to the workers. Those are all the kinds of rhetorical statements that we used to hear from Labor and the rationale that they put behind the various new taxes that Labor introduced.

In some respects, Labor were successful—in some respects. They succeeded in borrowing record amounts of money from abroad to redistribute that money. In other respects, they did introduce the world's biggest carbon tax, which in their first term, of course, they had ruled out and said they would not introduce. Labor did all of these things on the base of saying that it was good for Australians. But the fundamental problem is this: the Australian people that the Labor Party said they were helping, whom we have heard the member for Oxley just talk about and the shadow Treasurer also make comment on, have been left so much worse off as a consequence of Labor's time in government.

Labor can crow about the fact that we saw job losses in industries like, for example, the car-manufacturing industry within three or four months of the coalition coming to government, and Labor can pretend that that was a consequence of coalition policy, but the Australian people see straight through it. They know that those were not decisions that were taken in three months; they were decisions that were a consequence of years in the making. Those were decisions that were a consequence of the policy environment, created by the Australian Labor Party, which saw us lose our competitiveness. It is Labor's policies—like the mining tax and like the carbon tax—which have caused the closure of Ford and caused the closure of Holden and have seen the consequences now on Qantas airlines as they fight the headwinds to try to remain a competitive force despite the fact that they have some of the highest overheads in the developed world. Those are consequences of Labor's policies.

The last thing that we need on this side of the House is to be lectured by the Australian Labor Party about not having a plan. We have a plan. Let me provide that insight to the Labor Party. Our plan in the first half is to start undoing the damage of the Australian Labor Party. Our plan in the first half is to make sure that we abolish the world's biggest carbon tax, which jeopardises jobs, makes our manufacturers less competitive and pushes jobs overseas, as companies move, for example, smelting works and other operations abroad. That is what we are going to do.

The other plan that we have got is to abolish the mining tax, a tax introduced by Labor with some $16 billion worth of expenditure tied to it but which only generates some $400 million worth of revenue. We are going to get rid of it because it makes Australia less competitive. In addition to that, it was a fundamental point that saw this nation go into so much debt.

That is the other core component of our plan: to stop Labor's reckless spending. We saw the madness of Labor when it came to spending money, throwing $900 in cash out to dead people, to people living abroad. We still had cheques going out to people a couple of months ago, four or five years after the GFC. So the coalition's policy is: to repay that debt; to stop the reckless spending; to axe the carbon tax, a pernicious tax which makes us less competitive; and to make sure that we abolish the mining tax, which has been exporting jobs abroad. Each of these measures will make sure that, as a nation, we stand stronger and in a more competitive position going forward.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance. I think we are being tough on the coalition, because I remember those days in the lead-up to the election when the then Leader of the Opposition, now Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, would be everywhere, holding up this plan. His knuckles would be going white. He would be showing it. I was waiting for him to photo-bomb people while he was holding the plan. There he was, telling everyone, 'We have a plan.' This is the plan that said:

We will generate one million new jobs over the next five years …

'We will generate one million jobs'! 'We will'! Then we started looking at it and people started checking it out. Actually how will they generate those one million jobs? Here is a story. I just happened to come across this one back on 2 January this year, written by David Wroe under the headline 'Broken vows pile up as coalition's pledge of one million new jobs refuted'. It says:

The Abbott government faces further pressure over broken promises with a new analysis showing it will fall well short of its pledge to create 1 million jobs over five years.

This is only in a space of less than six months and they are already falling short. The article continues:

By combining employment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics with Treasury's jobs growth forecast in last month's mini-budget, the library—

the Parliamentary Library—

calculated the Australian economy would add about 620,000 jobs over the next four years. Even allowing for a fifth year, the figures show the government will fall well short of 1 million new jobs.

Then I noticed another article by David Wroe. He was on a roll in early January. See what holidays do for you? They give you time to think. He says:

The Abbott government came up with its pledge to create 1 million jobs—

Wait for it. This is how they came up with their pledge 'We will create one million jobs'—

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Solemn, hand on heart.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hand on heart indeed, Member for Lalor. It says here:

The Abbott government came up with its pledge to create 1 million jobs in five years solely on the employment growth rate achieved under the former Howard government, a Coalition insider says.

So there was no map; there was no economics; it was just: 'We'll just pull out the history books and see what they did and we'll apply it here.' That was the great level of analysis that went into this.

I admit I have got here the Diaz version of the master plan. It has got bigger text and a lot more pictures. It has the member for Wentworth here. He needs no airbrushing, the jaw of Bondi! Look at that square jaw right there! There he is. It is a good front cover. We went through it. We had the Minister for Small Business talking to us about how well they were going to help small business. I checked it out in here as well. This is well thumbed—you would think I would get straight to this. They talk about lowering taxes and reducing business costs for small business. What is the first thing they do when they get in? The asset tax write-off, gone; loss carry-back, gone. How does that help small business?

All these things have happened and now we are getting this move back, this move that says: 'It's not us that creates the jobs,' like there was an asterisk at the end of that pledge 'We will create one million jobs.' There is none of that. Now it is: 'It's business. We are going to help business create those jobs. That's what we meant.' I actually remember the Prime Minister coming in here and saying, 'It's not us; it's you. You don't understand English as we say it.' They now say it is others that have to create the jobs: 'It's business. We'll make the environment right.' I actually reckon, now that I have got the Diaz plan, I am just going to make a quick amendment and put here 'Real excuses for all Australians'.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley knows that props are disorderly.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is the plan. It is always someone else's fault, Deputy Speaker. It is always someone else's fault that we are not going to be doing handouts, or it is: 'We're standing in the way of Qantas. We want to provide more foreign investment.' But, when you look at GrainCorp, what happened there? What happened on GrainCorp? There they were wanting to get more investment to help their operations, and what happened there? The government denied it. Why? Not because it was not in the national interest; because it was not in the Nationals' interest. That is why they blocked it.

The problem with the other side is there is no consistency in the way that they are making their decisions. They are happy to turn their backs in terms of providing the type of help needed and working with business to make sure jobs stay here, to make sure that employment is not undermined, to not see a slowdown in economic activity and to ensure that people will be able to take a pay cheque home.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I read the topic of this matter of public importance, I realised, as my colleagues do, why the members opposite continue to ignore the fact that there is actually a reason that in this parliament the coalition sits on this side of the House. It is that in September, in the election, the people of Australia were faced with a stark choice. It was a really simple choice: the coalition plan for the future that was about stability and certainty versus the Labor plan for endless debt and deficit. What a choice—stability and certainty versus endless debt and deficit! Well, the Australian people made a choice.

The then Leader of the Opposition and our team, including the member for Wentworth, who is at the table, outlined a very clear plan for the future of this great nation—something many people lost sight of during the Labor years. It is a plan that is centred on economic restraint—a brand-new concept for those opposite—and taking responsibility for government expenditure. We had to start by fixing Labor's mess—and it was and is a mess thanks to Labor. We committed to ending Labor's continual and unremitting budget deficits and spiralling national debt.

Has anybody forgotten the constant internal chaos? Members opposite have selective memories. We saw the continuous leadership debacle—something members opposite forget—that actually made Australia, a great nation, an international political joke and that further eroded the confidence of individual Australians. Labor conveniently tries to whitewash this as though there was not a continuous change of leadership and uncertainty. What is going to happen next? Remember the buzz around this place: 'Who is going to be there tomorrow morning?' What confidence did that give to our businesses and our communities. That is what we heard all the time when we were out and about: 'Who's going to be the Prime Minister tomorrow?' That is what happened under Labor.

We also know that the Rudd-Gillard, Gillard-Rudd—or whatever—Labor government never achieved, and never would, a budget surplus. They never actually had a plan to achieve one in the foreseeable future. It was the never-never plan—one day maybe. The Australian people saw through that. We know Labor was on track. Every time they came into this place I saw in their faces that they thought it was someone else's money they were spending. There are very few in small business or who run a business on that side who know what debt is and how to pay it off. What we saw was Labor continuing to add to Australia's greatest ever national debt, to levels that will take decades to repay.

What an amazing legacy? How proud they are of this legacy. They left their burden of incompetence for future generations—that is what it is—for perhaps two generations of Australian taxpayers. We do not underestimate the depth of the task, but Labor think this is some sort of a joke and that is how they treated spending taxpayers' money. I used to see it on their faces when they came in here. They took no responsibility. I say to members opposite: we take the spending of Australian taxpayers' money far more seriously than even if it were our own. That is the rigor that we bring to this place and that is what is needed. That was completely missing every time I saw Labor come into this place.

We did take a great plan to the campaign and to what we are doing here as a government. We heard today that there is slowly increasing confidence in this nation, as there should be, because the nation is a great nation but it was taken down the path by Labor of endless debt and deficit. We did see a loss of confidence. We will restore that confidence. That is what I hear when I walk around in my community and talk to businesses and individuals. Those businesses actually provide the jobs. They know what it takes. Members opposite never did. All they knew was how to waste billions of taxpayers' money in this great country.

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to refer to the speech by the member for Forrest, the previous speaker. I am proud of Labor's legacy. I am proud of the fact that we created nearly one million jobs. I am proud of the fact that we saved 200,000 jobs during the global financial crisis, while those on the other side were asleep during the votes. I am proud of the fact that for the first time in our history we had a AAA credit rating from all three credit agencies. I am proud of the fact that we had contained inflation. I am proud of the fact that we had growing labour productivity. I am proud of the fact that, unlike countries that followed austerity measures, which those over there talk about all of the time, we had a growing economy with a strong chance under Labor at the time to keep on growing.

I tend to agree with the member for Chifley. I differ slightly with the member for McMahon, and I know it is a risky strategy. But the government do have a plan. It is called 'Hockeynomics'. Under their esteemed Treasurer they have a four-point plan for the economy: one, kill manufacturing; two, string Qantas along; three, return infrastructure planning to the minister for pork-barrelling, who is otherwise known as the Deputy Prime Minister; and, four, when in doubt blame it on everyone else. That is their four-point plan.

There is no clearer indication that they do not understand economics than manufacturing. They are led by a man who Peter Costello said you cannot trust on economics, a man who assured industries, including the auto industry, that they would be safe under him—'Don't worry about what we say before the election, you will be safe under an Abbott government.' What did the car industry say before the election? 'If you cut assistance by $500 million, like you are planning to do, we will leave.' But the government said: 'No, trust us. "Hockeynomics" will get you through it.'

What happened after the election? They confirmed their $500 million cut to auto industry assistance and Holden said it was leaving. Without Holden supporting the supply chain, Toyota has no choice but to leave this country as well. What is the result of this? Some 50,000 direct jobs will be gone and another 200,000 jobs are on the chopping block. The industry is devastated and north Adelaide and the western suburbs of Melbourne are under threat. This is all because 'Hockeynomics' said: 'We don't take what companies say seriously. We're just going to institute our flat earth theory of economics.'

Sadly, it is not limited to just Holden and Toyota. We have seen job losses at Forge and significant job losses at Caterpillar in Tasmania. These are all foreshadowed job losses, as the member for McMahon alluded to. We have already seen 60,000 full-time jobs leave the economy under their stewardship. That is part of their plan: kill manufacturing. We have seen the other part of their plan: string Qantas along. For three months the Treasurer was laying the groundwork for intervention. He said that there are four grounds on which Qantas is a special case, and they were four very important points. Qantas went along with that, and what did we see? We saw the Treasurer rolled by the Prime Minister and running down the rabbit hole of foreign ownership instead of doing what is really needed and looking at a debt guarantee.

This keeps going on. We have seen the gutting of Infrastructure Australia, a great body that would increase productivity and get infrastructure investment going in this country. We are now seeing worrying figures on capital investment. A very worrying statistic came out last week that non-mining capital expenditure has fallen by just under five per cent in the last quarter. We need this investment, because the mining boom is coming off as investment is completed and they shift to the production phase. We need the non-mining sector to pick up, but we are seeing a five per cent fall in non-mining capital investment under this government. I do not know where their plan is going to lead us next—it is very worrying.

We are trying to be positive. We have offered solutions. The best solution is for those opposite to continue Labor's $1 billion Australian jobs plan. That plan was centred around innovation precincts. It would bring the best and brightest from the innovation community, from academia, together with business. That was one part of the plan. Another part was to inject much-needed venture capital into our small businesses. A third part was the Australian Jobs Act, which for the first time gave Australian businesses a chance of winning work on large projects that are going on. That was all rejected because those opposite have their plan—Hockeynomics: kill manufacturing, string Qantas along, return infrastructure planning to the minister for pork-barrelling and blame everyone else. When in doubt, blame everyone else. That is a sad shame. It is the country that will suffer from the return of Hockeynomics.

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this matter of public importance discussion about jobs and the economy. After all, it is having a job that provides the opportunity for us to contribute fully to our community and to this great nation; it is what allows us to look forward with hope and to plan for our future and that of our children; and, vitally, it underpins the overarching sense of wellbeing and confidence, confidence that was shattered under the previous government, with 200,000 jobs being lost during the six years that Labor was in power. But Australians understand that there is at last some hope. We are getting back on track after years of Labor's waste and mismanagement.

We have had in Australia a crisis in confidence. It is a crisis that we inherited in September last year and is one that will take time to correct—but correct it we will, because we have a plan. I notice that the Minister for Small Business referred to the nationwide plan. I refer to the Tasmanian economic growth plan, which was an important part of the message that we sold to Tasmanians during the course of the election. They understood that we have a plan.

Sadly, I know all about economic crises, because after 16 years of Labor government in Tasmania, the last four in coalition with the Greens, Tasmania is smack bang in the midst of an economic crisis. I know all about it because I am living it. The Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures for Tasmania for January 2014 reveal that Tasmania's unemployment rate trend figure for December and January was 7.6 per cent, compared to the national average of 5.8 per cent. Tragically, the story for young Tasmanians looking for work is disastrous. According to the Brotherhood of St Laurence only two weeks ago, the youth unemployment rate in some parts of my state is as high as 20 per cent—that is, one young person in five in my state actively looking for work is unable to find it. Since 2010, the number of unemployed Tasmanians has risen by nearly 25 per cent, and the state's participation in work rate is at its lowest level since 2005. There are nearly 10,000 fewer Tasmanians in full-time employment, and Tasmania has the highest unemployment rate in the nation.

Since the Labor-Green government came into office in my home state, Tasmania has run up the biggest deficits in the state's history. The 2010-11 budget announced by Premier Lara Giddings said that in 2013-14 we would run a surplus—rightly so—of $57 million. What was delivered? One of the biggest deficits in the state's history, nearly $360 million. It is just tragic. And that is just my home state. Labor's legacy federally has left 200,000 more Australians unemployed, gross debt is projected to rise to $667 billion and there are $123 billion in cumulative deficits and the world's biggest, job-sapping, carbon tax if we do nothing. We are doing what we said we would do. We are building a stronger economy so that everyone can get ahead, abolishing the carbon tax, ending the waste, stopping the boats and building the roads of the 21st century.

The key to boosting annual growth to more than three per cent is what is needed to bring unemployment down. A simple part of that equation is to get rid of the carbon tax. By getting rid of the carbon tax we will get growth in the economy above three per cent. That will deliver the jobs growth that we need in this country. We will do this in a systematic, logical, way by directing our spending to the areas with the highest priority, particularly infrastructure to support the private sector and to support jobs.

The government went to the election with a plan and a commitment to introduce jobs programs. Now, as promised, these programs are being implemented across Australia. In Tasmania with the Economic Growth Plan for Tasmania we have a firm belief that only we can reset the economic course of the state to one of growth, jobs and rising living standards.

At last Australia is open for business. We are under new management. Make no mistake: Australians made a choice in September last year. We are removing restrictions on business and giving Australians a better chance to get a job. We are unshackling the business sector so that it can grow and create jobs. I urge all Tasmanians: on 15 March this year, give the Liberals a chance to deliver the same opportunities for my state. (Time expired)

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join my colleagues in asking this government to stop spending its time and energy talking down Australia's economy, stop sending mixed signals to the private sector about what its economic settings are going to be and get on with a plan to craft and protect Australian jobs.

I will start by expressing a little bit of solidarity with those across the chamber. This must be a really difficult debate for them to have, because the economic record of the first six months of this government is a shocker. You could not have made this stuff up. We have had 5,000 jobs go at Qantas. We have seen 2,900 jobs go at Holden and 2,500 jobs go at Toyota—the collapse of Australia's automotive industry—and we will ultimately see 200,000 jobs lost over the next few years. We have also lost 1,200 jobs at Gove, 500 jobs at Electrolux and 250 jobs at Simplot. On top of all of those losses, 60,000 jobs have already disappeared since these guys have been in government. They just cannot take a trick. This is before the razor gang completes their report, which we expect will probably lead to more Public Service job cuts.

Any reasonable government, in the face of this record, would get the cabinet together and say 'Let's knuckle down guys; we have real problem here and we are going to have to create a plan for jobs and growth.' Instead, this government comes in here and says, for the first time after the election, that the government does not create jobs. I want to spend a bit of time talking about this point because I think it is a very important one. First, if that was the belief of this government I would have liked them to have let the electorate know about it before the election. Instead, what we have seen in this document we have been spending some time on today is that a million jobs will be created by this government. What we have here is a group of people who want to take credit for jobs that emerge when they are in government but every job that is lost is someone else's fault, so it is a little bit inconsistent. It is part of broader a inconsistency across this government's economic policy settings, which I will return to. Second, the statement that government does not create jobs is nonsense. Government is integral to job creation. Australians know that. It does not mean putting everyone on the government payroll but, through smart management of the budget and through the right investment in education, skills and infrastructure, government can create an environment that builds jobs. That is why the government needs a plan. You would not think that this needed to be explained to anyone.

On this side of the House we can provide a couple of pointers on what a plan might look like. You might think that now would be a great time to think about a tax break to help small businesses invest to create more jobs. Instead, we have those on the other side getting rid of the instant write-off facility. You might think that this would be a great time to start co-investing in businesses we know are going to go on and create jobs, like SPC Ardmona, but this view is not shared by the government. You might think that this is a great time to start investing in skills, especially the skills of young people. I would remind those on the other side of the House that under Labor every Australian high school student was going to have access to a trade training facility to build their skills and to address our national skills shortages, but they have decided to scrap that too. You might think that now is not the time to make a massive expansion in our welfare state, but those on the other side of the chamber are putting in place a $5.5 billion a year scheme that will see some of the wealthiest women in Australia supported through their maternity leave. These are very puzzling settings.

I return to the question of why there is no plan in place. I certainly do not regard this document as a plan—some of the anodyne and bizarre comments are quite humorous. On the side of one page, the Prime Minister is quoted as saying:

… the sum of human happiness is most likely to be maximised when government knows its limits.

I do not know where these guys come up with this stuff.. We know the reason there is no plan cannot be that the government does not think government creates jobs, otherwise they would not have promised that they would create a million of them. It could be, as I would put forward, that they cannot agree on what the plan should look like. We have a lot of fundamental inconsistencies on the other side of the House about how we should be managing the Australian economy. For example, round one, we had GrainCorp where a significant foreign investment in Australian agriculture was denied on the basis that being Australian-owned really mattered—Barnaby one, Joe zero. Then, round two, with Holden, Ian Macfarlane loses support for the car industry and we will see that industry disappear with thousands of jobs lost—Joe one, Ian zero. And then, round three—Qantas. This is the one that really bites because in this instance the Treasurer came in and articulated a four-point plan. You have to feel sorry for the guy as he went out and articulated the plan, and although Qantas clearly met all of the points he still lost. I feel sorry for the people working in the Treasurer's office who thought that this was going to be the great Hockey doctrine, where we would be rewriting economic policy in Australia. Instead it was an absolute failure. One thing I have learnt in my time in this House is that the people on the other side will not let the facts get in the way of a good story. If only they could agree what the story was. (Time expired)

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I draw to your attention the fact that a number of members on the government side have been interjecting, and they are not in their seats.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is the case, and it has been the case on both sides during this discussion. The member for Hunter does remind me that interjecting while out of your place is grossly disorderly. I emphasise that right now to both sides of the chamber. I have been lenient.

Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank those opposite for putting up this intriguing MPI on the economy and jobs. With their record, I am scratching my head as to why they have even gone there. It is interesting how quickly they forget the carnage they left behind. I remind those opposite that it was under their government that we saw record waste. Let us not forget it was Labor that turned nearly $50 billion in the bank into a projected net debt of well over $200 billion. Let us not forget: it was under their watch that we saw the fastest deterioration in debt in dollar terms as a share of GDP in modern Australian history. It was under their plan that gross debt was projected to rise to $667 billion, with $123 billion of cumulative deficits. It is this Labor debt, this legacy of the Labor Party's amazing plan, that is now costing us around $10 billion a year in net interest payments. They are the ones who put the handbrake on the economy and they are the ones who promised there would be 'no carbon tax under a government I lead', yet they forged ahead and brought in the carbon tax and the mining tax. They talk about jobs at Qantas. What about the $106 million a year that the carbon tax is costing Qantas? It is this carbon tax that is hurting so many small businesses—412,000 jobs have been lost in small business over the past six years, according to what the Minister for Small Business said earlier.

As for the terrible twosome, my esteemed Western Sydney neighbours the honourable members for McMahon and Chifley, where were the jobs for Western Sydney? In my electorate of Lindsay two-thirds of my working population have to commute every single day for jobs—one-third to the city and one-third into greater Western Sydney. The people of Western Sydney time and time again have been forgotten by those opposite. For too long, successive Labor governments have shirked their responsibility to provide vital infrastructure to this key region.

Let us all remember that it was the former Labor Premier Bob Carr—who they then put in the Senate—who stated that Sydney was full. Such statements are most unhelpful to employment growth in my region. In fact, the last piece of major road infrastructure delivered to the people of Western Sydney was the M4, which was delivered under the Howard government, and I remind you all that it was delivered on time and under budget.

Maybe the member for McMahon missed this is well, but in December last year it was the O'Farrell coalition government that approved a major meatpacking factory processing unit in Erskine Park, which happens to be in his electorate. This facility within the Western Sydney Employment Area will process 2,000 tonnes of bulk-refrigerated red meat and poultry each week. Further, the meat will be graded, cut, repacked, labelled and distributed to the retail market by truck. Construction of the $134-million facility will employ 650 people while ongoing operation will create 400 jobs. Perhaps the shadow Treasurer should look to his own backyard.

Perhaps the shadow Treasurer also missed the announcement by the Treasurer today that the economy has grown by 0.8 per cent—more proof that the Abbott government is getting on with the job of building a stronger economy and more proof that the coalition has a plan to stimulate growth in this economy. The best thing the government can do to help the people of Western Sydney is abolish the carbon tax—a carbon tax the Labor Party just stand in the way of— (Time expired)

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allocated for this discussion has expired.