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

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

The Government’s failure to offer a plan for jobs in the new economy.

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—

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

On Tuesday night the Treasurer handed down a budget that the government promised would be about taxes coming down, debt coming down and unemployment falling. Instead we were witness to a budget where taxes are rising, debt is rising and unemployment is rising. Even on the government's own forecast, unemployment will be rising next financial year to 6.5 per cent. This is the highest unemployment rate for 14 years. This is a very, very big problem for the 800,000 Australians who are seeking work. What we see, over the forecast years, is a forecast where unemployment will be higher than was forecast in last year's budget. So the fact is: things are getting worse, not better, when it comes to job opportunities for Australian workers. What we need to see from this government instead is a plan for jobs. What we need to see from the Treasurer, the Prime Minister and other ministers of this government, including the Minister for Employment, is a plan for jobs for those 800,000 Australians. Instead, we have today an unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent. We have 80,000 more Australians on unemployment queues today than we had at the last election. We have a government with a very modest goal, in terms economic growth, of a million jobs in five years, and yet there are more than 80,000 jobs fewer than there should be, given the government's commitment to that goal.

The Prime Minister's goal is certainly not being met; indeed, there are more people unemployed as a result of this government. Why is that the case? When this government was elected it confected a crisis and scared business and consumers. That is why we have an economy that has been flagging. That is why we have employers who are not hiring. That is why we have consumers who are not spending. As a result, we have an economy that is in trouble. A confected crisis by this government caused problems. It dampened consumer confidence, it dampened business confidence, it has led to unemployment increasing and, unfortunately—despite this budget being called a 'jobs and family' budget—even the forecast within the budget shows that unemployment will rise over time. That means, if these forecasts are right, we are going to see tens of thousands more Australians in unemployment queues.

The question the opposition asks is: where is the government's jobs plan? Where are the jobs for the 284,000 people who are looking for work? The unemployment rate for young job seekers is nearly 14 per cent, which is well above twice the national rate of unemployment. We have young job seekers not earning or learning and they are seeking answers from this government. They want to enter the labour market. They want to be productive. They want to have a purpose and they want to have a decent job, and yet there are no jobs for them. And there is nothing in this budget that would suggest there will be job opportunities over the course of the next few years. That is a major problem and something that this government has failed to attend to, and one of the reasons is that this government and these ministers have a callous disregard for Australian workers.

We saw that writ large early in this term when we saw the Treasurer turn up at this dispatch box, in December 2013, and threaten an iconic company like Holden to leave our shores—and they are leaving. We saw it when the government said that Australian shipbuilders will not build ships. We saw it when the Prime Minister tried to do a deal with Japan to stop submarines being built in this nation. We see it when it comes to the failure of this government to invest in skills, to invest in infrastructure, to invest in those things that will create the opportunities for businesses to hire and for workers to have productive lives. These are the reasons that we are seeing unemployment rising. The figures in the government's own budget illustrate that opportunities will not be there for those Australian workers.

Some areas of this nation are at crisis point. In Northern Tasmania, in Northern Queensland, in parts of Melbourne and Sydney and in northern Adelaide, unemployment figures for young people are at 20 per cent There are major challenges for our economy. It is awful to see young people without opportunities for work, and yet there is not enough in this budget; there is not enough effort by this government to attend to this issue. And it is not just those young people who may have left school early. There are university graduates trying to work out where their jobs are for the future. There are apprentices finishing apprenticeships who cannot find work. There are trainees who cannot find work. This is a major challenge that is not being responded to by the government.

Not everything is rising. If you look at the budget figures, you see that we have the lowest rate of wage growth since the ABS started collecting information. Even for those workers who do have a job, there is very little wage growth at all. Indeed, at the very best in the next financial year it will be matching inflation. This is the lowest rate of wage growth we have seen for many a year. So, with the cost of living rising, you are going to see more families under pressure because of those very low rates of wage increases.

We have heard a lot of talk from this government about employment participation. They have suggested that they want to see more people enter the labour market. That was the reason the Prime Minister used to advocate having a paid parental scheme. He used to talk about a paid parental scheme that would ensure that women would enter the labour market. What has happened since then? The Prime Minister used to boast about improving employment participation but the paid parental leave fiasco that we have seen this week is as good as theft. What we have seen by this government in introducing the initiative that will deprive 80,000 mothers of entitlements is an absolute disgrace. First we were going to have a paid parental scheme, then we were going to have a reduced scheme, and now we are going to have no scheme at all—but, even worse than that, we have a policy that will have a perverse effect on the current workplace agreements in place in this country. There are women in this country who are working for private sector companies and who will be deprived of entitlements, and the government has the cheek to call these women fraudsters, rorters and double dippers.

These women are not fraudsters or rorters; these women negotiated those entitlements. They forewent wage increases so that they would get this entitlement, and now we have a government that is going to steal that from those women. Women who have just had a child will have a reduced entitlement, an entitlement that came about through their own discussions and negotiations at workplaces as a result of the Prime Minister's and the Treasurer's budget. And that is an injury to those 80,000 women. The insult, of course, was this government having the hide to call these women 'rorters' and 'fraudsters' and 'double dippers'.

This is not double dipping; this is double crossing by the Prime Minister of mothers who are in the workforce. This will not help employment participation. This will not improve opportunities for women in the workplace. This is an outrage that the government should change. The Prime Minister himself should come to this dispatch box and apologise to those women for the insult and the injury he has caused as a result of that item in the budget. But we will not expect the Prime Minister to do that because, as I said, this government has a callous disregard for workers, a callous disregard obviously for working mothers as well.

We want to see this government outline a jobs plan but we have seen none of that in this budget. We want to see the government engage with business. We want to see the government ensure that there is proper investment in skills to ensure that businesses can find the skilled labour they need but we do not see enough of that. They took $1 billion in the first budget out of training and apprenticeships and we do not see any improvements on that front as well, so there are major problems with this budget.

Finally, it is also important to note the way in which a government treats its own workforce. The actual increase over the forward estimates for the Commonwealth would suggest there are going to be more job cuts in the public service or indeed a wage freeze. It is incumbent on Minister Abetz to explain where he is going to cut those public service jobs or whether in fact there is going to be a wage freeze, because the money is not there to ensure that the workers are properly treated or that they keep their jobs. This is a government that has failed on jobs and needs to attend to this major challenge for this nation.

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

If you want to know anything about Labor, you just saw it—an old union hack will not bring the jobs back. All you heard here was whingeing and moaning straight out of Trades Hall, straight out of the ACTU, all protecting the unions, nothing about jobs. You did not hear anything about jobs; all you heard about was unionism. You did not hear anything about the future economy; all you heard was back to the future, slagging off and name-calling, inciting aggro. Why don't you just go onto a picket line? That is where your place should be.

What we have been asked to talk about today are the—you had a pretty fair go, Sunshine.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

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

The minister will resume his seat.

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

Madam Speaker, I think it is outrageous that he would be attacking—

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

Resume your seat immediately. In fact, leave under 94(a). That is an absolute abuse of the standing orders. You had a very fair run. The minister has the call.

The member for Gorton then left the chamber—

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

Can't you tell the difference between attacking a hopeless Labor opposition with no plan for the future, only running lines your the unions fed you and the interests of this country? Can't you work that out? As the member for Gorton leaves, what a surprise, he has failed to mention small business once. He may have only been the minister for 11 months. I accept he may have been the only Labor minister in the previous government for 11 months. He was only one of six. I should not be too harsh. I should not think he actually understands that the task of job creation rests in the hands of those that are creating the economic opportunities. It is a pretty simple idea. Jobs do not come by just by coming here and running a picket line speech. It is about supporting the productivity of our economy, getting behind the wealth creators, understanding that for someone to gain a job there has to be an employer with the capacity to employ them and pay for them. And that is why enterprise needs to be at the heart of any credible agenda that talks about the future economy and where the jobs are going to come from. That is what this budget was all about.

I am not surprised those opposite could not quite pick up the fact that we are energising enterprise through this budget, that jobs and small business were at the heart and that supporting participation, families and child care are all about putting in place the environment and infrastructure that is needed to create employment opportunities in this economy. To have people prepared and able to take up those opportunities and to have a go to make them their own is what this budget was about—a challenge we faced after inheriting the mess and their debt and deficit legacy of Labor.

It is a difficult assignment trying to deal with the hard wired expenditure that Labor had in the budgets and in the books of the Commonwealth that would see $123-billion worth of deficits if we left it on the set-and-forget Labor plan. But we could not do that because you do not create jobs for the future by giving our kids the debts that we were not prepared to pay today. That is no way of opening up the economy for the future. So not only does this budget deal with new initiatives designed to support the job creation and the economic prospects of the economy but we have more than offset those outlays by finding savings within the budget.

What else have we done? We have reduced the deficit as a percentage of GDP in our economy by half a per cent each year in the out years. We are back on track for a credible budget recovery that is what the markets are looking for. All of this is happening while we present to the Australian public a jobs and small business plan, a family and child care support strategy. It is all about energising enterprise, encouraging people to be a part of the economy and to be in a position to take up those jobs that, through the work we are doing as a government in partnership with the private sector, will be available in increasing numbers into the future.

Why am I so optimistic about that? In the first year of the Abbott government, the job creation rate by this economy was three times what it was under the last year of Labor. We had three times the rate of job creation. We have got record numbers of business formation. We have got momentum heading in the right direction and all Labor can do is ignore the history as if it never existed. Have a look at Labor's last budgets. Have a look at the debt trajectory that is in there, understated and fraudulent though it was. In there, have a look at the slowing in economic opportunity. Have a look at the rising rates of unemployment. All of those settings were created and put in place under Labor's administration. When the Australian public said enough is enough of that ridiculously dysfunctional government of Labor and put the coalition in office, we had to start with where Labor left things. And let me assure you, they were not where anybody wanted them to be.

In small business, 519,000 jobs—livelihoods, the opportunity for people to get a go in the workforce—provided by small business were lost under Labor, in six years under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. Do you know that the number of small businesses actually employing people declined? It declined. Labor seemed to go out of their way, as an assault on the small business economy, to take on those enterprising men and women who mortgage their houses and in some cases think of nothing other than what they can do to support their enterprise.

We had to tackle that, and we have. Job creation is at a rate that Labor could only dream of. In business formation, again, there are encouraging signs. Building approvals are up. There is confidence in consumers. We had to recover from Labor. I admit that the Australian public was ecstatic when Labor was voted out of office. I accept that. The Australian public was ecstatic, and some of those confidence ratings went through the roof, such was the jubilation of the Australian public when Labor left office.

Yes, it has come off those heights of jubilation, but you hear Labor talking down the economy. They are optimism sponges. They are the perpetrators of negativity. They do not talk about policy. Right throughout the member for Gorton's speech, did you hear one policy idea? Wasn't this Labor's year of big ideas? I have an idea for Labor. Why don't they just get out of the road? Get out of the road. Let us implement the plan that has been articulated in the budgets. Let us get on with repairing the debt and deficit disaster that has been left, not just for governments. Governments have to contend with them; citizens have to pay for them. If we are going to achieve our potential as a great nation and carry forward the promise that every generation before us has had that the next generation will have it better than us, we cannot leave those settings where Labor had them and where Labor wants them: 'What we'll do is steal those opportunities from our kids. We will load up the economy and enterprising people with more debt and lead in the saddlebag than they need to contest and win the economic opportunities of the future.'

What are we doing? We are opening those doors. Those North Asian trade agreements—hundreds of millions of new prospective customers wanting what we do well; a chance to grow our business and our economy and the jobs that flow from it. That is what we are doing. And then we are making sure that our economy is best equipped and fit to win those opportunities, because they are contested; they are not reserved for us. They are not something you can protect by a picket line performance like you saw from the member for Gorton.

Tonight will be interesting. Will Labor have anything positive or constructive to say? Will they dwell on name-calling, on semantics and on the use of words that they seek to distort to create division in the society but no clear pathway for where the economy and this nation are going? That will be the test, because we have already seen some examples of it. Do you know that last week—I think it is the shadow, assisting, part-time, occasionally, about-to-be-retiring—Bernie Ripoll, the member for Oxley, put out a press release? He was having a crack, having a go, not in a positive sense but having a go at our plan to provide tax relief to small business. He was bagging it. He was playing from the big-end-of-town rule book. He was saying, 'Well, if it can't go to everybody, it shouldn't go to anybody.' Well, that is not our view. We do what we can in a responsible and affordable way.

So you had the member for Oxley bagging the idea of a tax cut. You had the current opposition Treasury spokesman, who I must confess was the small business minister—let me check it. One and a half months he lasted in that role. He would not have even got his cards printed in time. He was out there saying, 'No, I actually think this isn't such a bad idea.' And then you had the Leader of the Opposition doing the corridor talk. In fairness to the Leader of the Opposition, I try to ignore a lot of the corridor talk about him from his own colleagues. I do not think it is really helpful. But he had a corridor chat, and he thought he might be onside with some of these small business measures.

But have we got any clarity? Are they actually going to back this measure? Are they going to support our efforts to energise enterprise, to give a reward and incentive to those courageous men and women who create wealth and opportunity not only for themselves but for our community? Are they going to get behind our work to provide the roadshows to explain what the trade agreements mean, how to get a part of them and how to bring wealth and opportunity through those? Are they going to get behind our accelerated depreciation measure? That is not offered, as Labor did, as a sweetener to hide the sourness of yet another new Labor tax. At the same time, they removed a tax incentive for small business provided by the Howard government known as the entrepreneurs tax offset. How is that for a cunning plan? Take off a tax benefit for small business, with 400,000 benefiting from that, and put on a new tax that was actually limiting our capacity for the future. That is no plan. Only the coalition has a plan— (Time expired)

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have something positive to say to the minister. You have to give him marks for enthusiasm and evangelising in his portfolio. He never, ever lacks enthusiasm, so there is something positive. Sadly, I fear that he is, however, by and large, terribly, terribly misguided. The Prime Minister has a penchant for putting people to live on other planets, and it appears that his Minister for Small Business is living on Planet Delusion. He criticises Labor in government for removing one particular incentive for small business and replacing it with another. Just remind me: what did they do in the last budget?

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

Got rid of all the incentives.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They got rid of all the incentives Labor had put in place for small business and replaced them with nothing—nothing. Therefore, after 12 months, they have decided they actually have to go back to the issue and try to repair some of the damage that they have done.

I just have a little challenge for members opposite. I extended it to the Assistant Treasurer during our chat at the table. Anybody who is sitting here is welcome to take it up. They criticised the shadow Treasurer and the shadow small business minister for not putting out any positive press releases about government initiatives. Well, I challenge them, over the entirety of the years of the Labor government, to find me one press release—just one; that will do; I will be happy with that—from a shadow minister congratulating on or endorsing a Labor government initiative. If they can do that, I will accept that the minister may not be delusional on these matters, but I doubt very much that they will be able to find a single one.

Let us come back to the reality. Before the election, the commitment of the now Prime Minister—who at that time was the Leader of the Opposition—to the Australian people was that he was going to create a million jobs. What is the reality with unemployment at this point in time?

I am going to use the government's own budget to outline what the current system will be. This government budget as released this week confirms that unemployment will be higher and stay higher as a result of the budget.

Despite all the rhetoric we hear, the budget forecasts unemployment to reach 6.5 per cent—

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

Higher than the GFC.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

higher than the global financial crisis, which those opposite like to pretend never happened—in fact, the highest unemployment rate in 14 years. The budget does not have a plan to address that for the long term. In areas across the nation like mine and the member for Chifley's there is an ongoing deep concern about endemic unemployment, particularly for our young people. In fact, it was a topic of the OECD and a major focus for the OECD. What we need to see happen, and it has been told to the government time and time again—it was told to us in government and we responded with a significant investment in both skills and infrastructure—is investment in knowledge, skills and the tools with which to utilise them to ensure the growth of new jobs and the ability of people to take up the emerging jobs of the future. We have not seen that in this budget.

I want to deal with my own shadow portfolio of vocational education and skills. If you look at what the budget says about this, it confirms that there is a massive 20 per cent cut over the forward estimates in skills funding. That is the reality—a 20 per cent cut. It has totally failed to make any new announcements about investments in skills and training. This abject failure to act comes on the back of last year's budget, where they cut $2 billion out of the portfolio.

Of particular concern in a debate about jobs and in particular when someone claims they are the Prime Minister for 'Tony's tradies', they cut $1 billion out of apprenticeships and traineeships. Not a single dollar of that has gone back, nor is there a single new initiative in this budget for apprentices and trainees. It seems it is all right to love the current generation of tradies, but heaven forbid you actually invest in the next generation of them.

What we actually saw put in place was the abolition of a whole range of programs that were there— (Time expired)

Louise Markus (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with delight that I rise today to speak on the government's plan to see the economy grow and the people of Australia prosper, particularly with the Growing Jobs and Small Business package announced in this year's budget.

I thank the shadow minister for raising this very important issue, giving this side of the House the opportunity to inform both the people of Macquarie and the people of Australia how it is working to ensure that the engine room of the Australian economy, small business, will be positioned to drive growth and create jobs. Focusing on building a strong and prosperous economy encourages business confidence and consequently increases job creation.

In 2013-14, Australians started over 280,000 small businesses. The $5.5 billion Growing Jobs and Small Business package is the largest small business package in Australia's history, building on what has already been achieved. This package will help small business to invest more, grow more and thereby employ more. The Growing Jobs and Small Business package will assist employers to grow and to employ young job seekers, mature workers, parents and long-term unemployed.

I find it incredible that the other side raised this question, having put our economy on the back foot during their six-year tenure. We all know: where there is a good economy, where businesses are supported and have confidence, jobs will follow.

What has this government already achieved? It repealed the carbon tax. It repealed the mining tax. It agreed free trade agreements with China, Korea and Japan. It announced $2.45 billion in annual red tape savings. It established the $484.2 million Entrepreneurs' Infrastructure Program. It created new employment opportunities through a $50 billion commitment to transport infrastructure. It established the new $6.8 billion jobactive employment services package, commencing on 1 July this year. It delivered a comprehensive reform package for the VET sector and introduced Restart, a wage subsidy to help Australians aged over 50 to find employment. It established the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. There is more, but time will not allow me to list them all.

Some 11,000 small businesses in Macquarie will benefit from these measures and additional measures, and let me focus on some of the measures in this year's budget. This government will provide more than $330 million in targeted spending on new job initiatives aimed at employers to support the transition of young job seekers to work. There will be wage subsidies to support employers that assist job seekers, with a $1.2 billion national wage subsidy pool and $18 million over four years for job seekers to undertake valuable work experience.

The government is also investing around $6 billion this year to support training that gives apprentices and vocational students the high-quality training they need for modern Australian workplaces. This includes the $664 million Industry Skills Fund, which will support more than 250,000 training places and support services, including skills advice for microbusinesses and small to medium businesses.

Young unemployed people will receive skills links to real jobs and support to be able to engage with work, training or school through the government's two youth training pilots, Training for Employment Scholarships and Youth Employment Pathways, which are being trialled in 32 sites across Australia, including Macquarie.

Under Training for Employment Scholarships, around 7,500 scholarships of up to $7,500 are assisting employers to take on and train unemployed young people.

The Youth Employment Pathways program offers up to $2,000 of assistance to eligible community service organisations to help disengaged 15- to 18-year-olds get back to school, start VET or move into the workforce.

Just after the budget, I received some positive feedback from Mr Ian Palmer, CEO of the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Penrith Schools Industry Partnership. He states, 'Hi Louise, just a quick note to say I was impressed by last night's budget and the small business and jobs measures.' He understands, let me tell you, what young people face and he understands what is required for them to access employment and education. He said, 'Well done. I am also very pleased to see the federal government renew support for young people caught in the transition and service gap between leaving school and joining the world of work.' His email concludes with congratulations on 'a good budget in difficult circumstances'.

Let me conclude by saying this government is committed to ensuring that small businesses are empowered to grow and provide more jobs. We are committed to ensuring that young people have every access to employment and training. (Time expired)

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

Forty-eight hours after the budget was delivered here that made a number of references to start-ups, entrepreneurialism, innovation and small business let us go to those in the know and see what they say about this budget. Rui Rodrigues, the Managing Partner of Tank Stream Ventures, said:

Overall, it’s positive that the government has mentioned startups twice in the budget but specific incentives are still lacking or aren’t applicable to the sector, so in the end it’s difficult to look at the glass half full with this budget.

That is what they are saying in relation to what we have seen delivered.

That is not the only criticism that has been levelled at this budget. It pretends it has a focus on small business, jobs and growth, but the reality is otherwise. We are confronted with a very serious challenge. Not only do we have more joblessness now than in the global financial crisis but we are at risk of being loaded up with the weight of that joblessness well into the future. We are under massive pressure to change on two counts. Mining is not delivering the wealth and, importantly, not delivering the jobs that we once experienced. For example, liquefied natural gas facilities that took over 35,000 people to build are now being operated by fewer than 5,000 people. Our GDP growth has taken a one percentage point hit because as construction projects end they require fewer people. This means that joblessness is up and there are fewer jobs around for people to go into. On top of that technology is wiping out manual and entry level jobs. There are fewer jobs that require little or no training. So we have in our own country this challenge with the economy changing and also technology having an impact.

We need to see whether this government is thinking ahead. What is its jobs plan? The problem is there is not much of a jobs plan in place. Other countries get this. For example, the UK is focused on finance or Fintech, New Zealand has coinvestment programs and entrepreneurs visas to generate the type of innovation required there, Singapore has $14 billion put aside for a national framework for innovation and entrepreneurship, and South Korea has a $100 million coinvestment program. They are all changing their economies. In the US they have seen that jobs grow 25 times faster in the tech sector than in any other sector in the country and they are making massive investments. They lead the world in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship. Small businesses and start-ups got big mentions in this budget but there is no plan backing up the words. They are making it up as they go along. We have to work now.

Again, let us look at what the start-up sector is saying. They said:

… in today’s globally connected digital world, our education and training systems need to place a far higher priority on the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths … skills, including Information and Communication Technology … skills.

That is from the Australian Computer Society's Andrew Johnson.

This budget cuts billions of dollars out of skills training and cuts nearly 20 per cent out of vocational education and training, as the member for Cunningham indicated. Where are we getting ready for the jobs of the future? We are not. Each new technology based job creates five additional jobs in other sectors, according to Enrico Moretti, Professor of Economics at the University of California in Berkeley. We are not prepared for it at all so we are under pressure to change. We risk being left behind. We have no plan to generate jobs. Only one job was being thought of in this budget—that is the Prime Minister's job. That was the only target for this budget. The only target for this budget was to get both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer through, but we cannot afford that kind of short-term thinking. We need to be able to think ahead about what is going to generate jobs for the people I represent in my area and the members for Greenway, Wakefield, Gellibrand and Griffith represent. We are all concerned about what is going to happen to jobs in the future but there is absolutely nothing here in terms of investing in schools and education and there is very little thinking in advance about what we need to do to keep our country ahead while others are stealing the march on us.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a presentation from the member for Chifley. I keep hearing about this plan for jobs. I am not sure where they have been this week. I am fairly certain it is in the budget. It is a big pile of paper. There are a whole heap of books. There is a big plan in there. They must be using it to hold a door open. Go back to your office and have a look. In fact, the member for Gorton has an opportunity to do that given he has been taken out of the House for a short period of time.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've got it here.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is part of it right there. There is a plan. The issue we have is that the only plan over there is to just say no. Those in the opposition will just say no. If they continue to get in the way it will be very difficult I am sure.

As has been said before by a number of speakers on this side, the powerhouse of the Australian economy is small business and this budget has a whole heap of things in it that are very positive for small business. As someone who was in small business for 15 years I can tell you that there are real opportunities here. These opportunities can be brought forward before the end of this current financial year. There will be an opportunity for people to replace small infrastructure and get a direct write-down. I can tell you that every small business in this country right now is making decisions about what they will do before the end of the financial year. They have done their planning. They have looked at what is coming through the door and they will make decisions about what they can spend between now and 30 June. They have an opportunity to write off 100 per cent of small infrastructure, small items of plant and equipment, up to $20,000. I think it is fantastic.

The member for Gorton talked about there being no investment in skills. I am not sure where he has been because I am positive that there is the Industry Skills Fund. There is $476 million for skills advice and tailored staff training to help businesses expand and compete. Once again, as someone who has come out of the training sector, I can tell you that the days of training churn, the days of putting numbers through training under the JSA system, are finished. We need to provide people with skills with which they can become employed. That is what is important, not just churning through different training organisations on a subsidised basis and coming out the other side. We have 4,000 baristas and in my electorate we do not need that many. We quite simply need people who have the skills to drive forklifts and operate a vehicle. They are very, very simple things.

We have a very difficult economic situation in my electorate. I have some 4000-odd people who are multigenerational welfare dependants. The biggest restriction to them getting a job is having a drivers licence. To get one they need over 100 hours of monitored training, they need a logbook and they need a vehicle. It is very, very difficult when you are in such a situation.

This is supposed to be the year of ideas from those opposite. If that is the best salvo they have to fire in the year of ideas, if this were a game of battleship nothing would be hitting the board. They are scrabbling around in the tin, looking for things to throw, but it is all falling on the floor. There are definitely no hits—none. There is nothing in the jar. It is empty. They have no ideas. It is an empty landscape as far as you can see. In fact, I am sure tonight's speech will be, 'There is nothing to see here.' There is absolutely nothing to see.

We have opportunities right now. The member for Cunningham talked about Tony's tradies. I am very interested in tradespeople because I actually am one. I am one of the few people left in the House who is. Those opposite, many years ago, used to represent working people. They now represent unions. The number of people with trades on that side of the House has deteriorated incredibly. I would like to see more working people on that side of the House, not just people who represent unions. Not everyone is in a union. There is an awful lot of people out there who are not.

The member for Chifley was talking about start-ups. Start-ups are, once again, something I know something about given I have started quite a number. I can tell you that the first three months of trading are incredibly difficult. There are opportunities in this year's budget for start-ups to get 100 per cent write-down on the cost of setting up. It is good value. He talked about LNG facilities and how, amazingly, there were thousands and thousands of people employed in the construction of these facilities. That is not really a surprise. Last time I checked, when you build things, it does take an enormous number of people. It takes labour, equipment and money.

When things go from construction to operation, there are fewer people involved. I cannot think of too many operations where you construct things that end up with as many workers in them as there were to build the thing. That is just the nature of the issue and the nature of the operation. Those facilities are operational. In Gladstone there is in LNG plant which is providing gas from Australia to the world. It is providing returns to the people of Australia and the people of Queensland. It is a very important part of our economy, and we should continue to get on with it. Those opposite needs to wake up to themselves and get out of the way.

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is absolutely clear from Tuesday night's budget is that the Treasurer has lost the plot and has lost confidence in himself. His deficit is out of control, ending at $41 billion for this year, going to $35 billion next year. His taxes are rising—24 per cent of GDP this year, going to 25 per cent of GDP in a couple of years time. Unemployment is rising—6.5 per cent this year and 80,000 more people in the dole queues than there were when this government came to office. This government cannot continue to walk away from their responsibility. They have been in government for two years. It is their debt, their deficit and their unemployment figures. What is absolutely clear from Tuesday night's speech from the Treasurer is that he has totally lost confidence in himself. He is throwing up his arms and saying to the Australian people, 'You have a go because I have had a go and I cannot fix the problem.' The economy is going south. The budget has no clear strategy. There is no direction and there is no plan for jobs in this budget at all.

For me, personally, what is extremely concerning is that no state has been treated more shamefully by this government and this Treasurer personally than South Australia. In the government's first budget, about $1 billion was cut from the South Australian budget just in health and education alone. Then we had the government turn their back on manufacturing in this country and in particular the auto industry. First, they would not give the industry a penny to help it survive when governments around the country were supporting their auto industries. Then they dared the industry to leave. As we saw, GMH took up the dare and said, 'If that is what you think about us, if that is how much you value our presence in Australia, we will leave.' And they did. The next morning the announcement was made. Having done that, we saw almost nothing from government, a very paltry amount, put into a fund to try to help those people who were going to lose their jobs and be affected by the loss of the auto industry in this country. In South Australia, up to 13,000 jobs will be lost. We can see the effects already being felt right across the economy.

Then we had the submarine debacle. First, we had a minister—he was the shadow minister at the time—come to South Australia and say, 'The 12 submarines will be built in South Australia.' He made it absolutely clear. Straight after the election, the same person—by then he was the minister—began to undermine the ASC, saying that they were not fit to build a canoe to paddle upstream. This is a government that not only have betrayed South Australians but simply do not understand the impact of their decisions on the South Australian economy.

We then had the Prime Minister, when his own job was on the line, come out with a competitive evaluation process that had never been heard of before in order to appease some of the South Australian backbenchers who had lost confidence in him and in his government. What does 'competitive evaluation' mean? We do not know. The reality is that what we do know is that the government has refused to commit to building the 12 submarines in South Australia and, as a result of that, we are already seeing jobs being lost. One hundred were lost from BAE Systems this week in Melbourne alone. They were all tied up with naval shipbuilding in this country.

But it does not stop there. The truth of the matter is that, when it comes to South Australia, out of the $50 billion, we only got $2 billion. Four per cent of the national infrastructure funds went to South Australia. That is on top of the $130 million cut from special local road funding that was provided to South Australia year in and year out. That is money that would go straight into construction programs and, in turn, create the jobs that we need for the future. But it goes a lot further than that. If you go right through all of the cuts that this government has made—cuts to skills funding, research and training, industry innovation in manufacturing businesses around the country—they are all to industries that are going to create jobs of the future.

Our future lies in innovation and the investment in it; in particular the future of our young people who today face unemployment rates as high as 20 per cent who are looking for work. Their future lies in the jobs that will be created by the very industries that this government from day one has sought to destroy and is destroying. There are only two jobs that this government and this Treasurer are concerned about: the Prime Minister's job—he made that absolutely clear when his own job was on the line—and the Treasurer made it absolutely clear that it is his job that is on the line when he spoke on Tuesday night. (Time expired)

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an extraordinary debate that we are having in this chamber today, because this budget is actually all about a plan for our economy. It is all about the creation of new jobs, new opportunity and more growth in our economy. I just cannot believe members opposite. I cannot believe the gall, that they would hold an MPI like this today. In fact, I actually think it is just sad. In a week when we should be talking about all the positive aspects of this budget, with so much positive news for families, with so much positive news for small businesses to get ahead and have a go, with so much infrastructure that will be built—infrastructure for the 21st century thanks to this government—all we see member opposite do is complain, attempt to run scare campaigns and outline no positive future.

As much as they may want to run away from their past, as we have certainly heard outlined in the chamber today, their legacy and the legacy they cannot run away from is this: gross debt was projected to rise to $667 billion—

Mr Champion interjecting—

Yes, let's actually remind you about this—$123 million in cumulative deficits; 14,500 jobs lost under their watch and a jobs-destroying carbon tax that of course cost the average family around $550 a year.

In our first term of government, and as this budget outlines, we have already cut Labor's projected debt and deficit in half. Our budget delivers a credible path back to surplus. We have seen a quarter of a million new jobs, 250,000 new jobs, added in just the last 18 months. We have scrapped the jobs-destroying carbon tax. This is a fantastic budget that will actually help to create jobs, growth and opportunity. I want to outline the opportunity that this budget is going to deliver for families and small businesses in my electorate of Robertson.

We all know that national decisions have a local impact. They have an impact on families and they have an impact on small businesses, like those in Erina, Gosford, Woy Woy and Killcare. They have an impact on local economies like the Central Coast region. We all know as well it is not government that creates jobs; it is business that creates jobs. This budget will help business, particularly small business in my electorate and I have around 13,000 small businesses in the Gosford council area. This budget will help those businesses to grow, to thrive, to prosper, to succeed and to create even more jobs and more opportunity for our young people and our commuters on the Central Coast.

Let me outline. We have been talking already in this debate about the great benefits of our $5½ billion growing jobs and small business package, which of course includes a tax cut for small businesses regardless of whether they are incorporated or not, and includes the ability for small businesses to claim an immediate tax deduction for each and every asset purchased up to $20,000.

What we have not spoken about is our $10 million commitment to Somersby industrial park to help upgrade the infrastructure there—part of a $29 million project with Gosford City Council that will help improve economic growth and employment opportunities, and boost productivity. It will make that park business-ready. It will make sure that it is cheaper for businesses to choose to relocate to Somersby. Relocating to the Central Coast means more local job opportunities for our Central Coast residents.

I want to talk as well about something else that this budget confirms: the 600 jobs that we are relocating to Gosford in a purpose-built building, a key announcement that Labor refuses to even guarantee to support but an important project that is on time and on budget. Not only will it deliver 600 new jobs to Gosford; it will help to create hundreds more besides that. What does that mean? That means more local job opportunities for people on the Central Coast.

I want to talk about our commitment to NorthConnex—$405 million in the budget. We did not see that under the former Labor government. We had heard promise after promise after promise. There has been 50 years of planning for this really important road but no delivery. Under this government, not only will it be delivered on time; there will be 8,700 jobs created for the people of New South Wales—more opportunity for people in my electorate.

We will see $7 million into Kibbleplex, which means more people into the heart of Gosford and more opportunities for our small businesses to do even better in Gosford. I could go on and on. I just want to say that the response that we have received on the Central Coast has been overwhelmingly positive from businesses and community leaders because they can see that this budget is a game-changer for the Central Coast.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Nothing amazes me more than hearing government speakers. They are living in an almost parallel universe. Every Australian remembers the document, Our plan: real solutions for all Australians. Apparently it is:

The direction, values and policy priorities of the next Coalition Government.

They all remember this document and they all remember the appeal to nostalgia that was made by the then opposition, the now government. They remember them offering very easy solutions. Page 15 of the document says the:

… strategy for Australia is to get our finances in order, build a strong growth-powered economy with less debt and make Australia more productive and competitive in the global economy.

And their plan:

… will deliver more jobs, higher real wages and better living standards for all Australians.

Yet, what do we have in this budget? What do we have in the reality of this budget?

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

I will tell the member for Bradfield what we have: taxes up; debt up; deficits up—$17 billion projected, $41 billion popped out the other side; unemployment up. This is the reality as opposed to alternate parallel fantasy world that those opposite live in. And they expect the rest of Australia to go along with it. The member for Bradfield expects his constituents to buy into this fantasy world that the government seeks to illustrate for us all. I can tell you—and we heard the member for Makin talk about this—about the debacle that has occurred in my state of South Australia in our automotive industry, where GMH was chased out of the country at a time when we had a high dollar and all sorts of pressures on automotive exports. We had them chased out of the country by this Treasurer. What happened to the dollar subsequently? It has gone from $1.06 to 80c—to a point at which Holden would quite happily have been exporting to the United States and other places, particularly to the police-car market in the United States. We would have had exports going there, but instead we have an industry that is closing down.

What did we see on subs? We had a promise to have submarines manufactured in Australia, in South Australia. It was a solemn commitment—broken. There were secret deals behind the nation's back with the Japanese Prime Minister—sort of a nudge-nudge, wink-wink—for the FTA. We know that is the case. We know that press releases were prepared for the purchase of a Japanese submarine, to be made in Japan. The irony—the bitter irony—is that they would have had to double the shipyards in Japan to build our submarines. So instead of building them here, we were going to build them there, and they were going to have to build new shipyards. What a tragedy.

What we have from this government is no plan—no plan at all—for jobs. There is nothing in this budget about jobs at all, just wishful thinking. There is a sort of Keynesian pump priming of the economy at a time when there is a global recovery. It is pretty ironic that they are talking about headwinds. They talk about headwinds now, but refuse to acknowledge the global financial crisis a few years ago. There is an interesting confusion on the opposition side. We have seen no investment in infrastructure—

Mr Fletcher interjecting—

There are some very funny interjections from the member for Bradfield. I am quite happy to have them on the record.

There is no investment in infrastructure. They are $2 billion under where they should be. There is no investment in skills and innovation. There is $3 billion cut out of science and a 20 per cent cut in school funding. This is the reality of what the government is doing.

What is the reality on jobs? I can tell you what it is in my state. On 21 April: 'Holden to axe 270 jobs at Elizabeth'. Ninety of those workers are going to be forced redundancies—people who will finish up early because of the actions of this government. If there had been a Labor government—

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

Are you going to guarantee those jobs?

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Corangamite asks about our commitments. If there had been a Labor government the auto industry would have been supported and they would not have left our shores, because we would not have been so reckless with their jobs. We would not have been so reckless with our commitments as you have been on cars, on submarines and on jobs.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is great to be in the chamber today to talk about jobs and what the government is doing to support workers, businesses and everyone who lives throughout Australia. I must admit, it is really interesting to sit here and listen to the member for Wakefield and others talk about how debt is up and unemployment is up. This is coming from a man who voted for the job-destroying carbon tax—who wanted to push up everyone's electricity bill and the electricity bill of businesses throughout Australia. This man voted for the mining resources rent tax, and now we have his Labor friends in Queensland shutting down a whole lot of new investment when they came into government. They are shutting down new ship terminals and new residential construction—

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Where?

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Up in Queensland, mate. They are shutting down other mining leases up there as well, around uranium. This is coming from the man who voted to end the live cattle trade in this country and shut it down overnight, along with every job that went with it. This guy has been in parliament for years and he wants to tell us how bad a job we are doing. I have met a lot of people in my job; in my 43 years of life I have met a lot of people, and those opposite are just totally negative. This man gets thrown out of parliament in question time every single day, or just about. The lot of you—you are all negative. If you cannot bring a positive contribution to this place, then get out. It is all of you: the member for Gorton, the member for Cunningham. That is true, member for Wakefield.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I bet you I come back with a bigger majority!

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I am sure you will. I am sure you will and I congratulate you if you do.

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

Order! The member for Wakefield is going the right way to get a 94(a).

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let us not get distracted by the opposition, because the people of Petrie and the people of Australia want to hear about the positive contributions of our budget. Of course, jobs are important, and if those members opposite care so much about jobs they will support this budget, because this budget is all about producing jobs. Let us look at what it does for small business. I note the member for Gorton, who was a former small business minister, never even mentioned small business.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't think that's quite true, mate.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is true, mate. The instant tax write-off—that is fantastic for jobs. It really is fantastic for jobs. It will help many small businesses in the Petrie electorate. There is also a company tax cut for those businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million. That will also support jobs.

Youth unemployment is particularly high throughout the country, and it is fairly high in the electorate of Petrie. One of the big incentives we have around youth unemployment and getting youth back to work is around work experience. I would be interested to know what members opposite are going to do with the issue around work experience, because often people who have not been employed for six months—

Mr Champion interjecting—

If you would like to listen up a minute: one of the things that employers say is 'What sort of experience have you got?' It is very difficult to get a job if you have not had some work experience or practical experience in the real world. One of the measures in this budget enables those people who are on welfare to continue to be supported and be able to get up to four weeks training in a real business—to understand customer service and productivity in the workplace. Those businesses that take on those men and women for work experience will spend a lot of time, obviously, training them, and it will be of benefit to the unemployed. They will be able to say, 'Look, I have gone and done some work experience at this place and this place,' when they go for their next interview. That is looked upon favourably.

In the budget there is a great package—a $5.5 billion package for small business that will help jobs growth in this country. There are also incentives for youth unemployment and for getting people back to work. There are also incentives for those young people who are particularly disengaged, or who may have left school early, to go back and do some further study—to finish year 12 or perhaps do a certificate III. There are big incentives for their workplace providers to get them trained as well.

Finally, I would just say that, when it comes to jobs, the Liberal-National party have a strong record. We believe in supporting small business. We believe in lower taxes. We believe in reward for effort. This is important. What stands in the way of that is the Labor Party. They want to come back into office and to run this country. But what do they plan to do? They plan to tax people with their super. They plan to be in a coalition with the Greens, who want to destroy what is left of the mining industry in this country. They are all members and the party of unions, and they want to make sure that casual workers have sick pay and holiday pay when they already have a 20 per cent loading.

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

Order! The time allocated for this debate has expired. The discussion has concluded.