Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is always such a pleasure to see you in the chair, Mr Deputy Speaker!

Last week's unemployment figures showed a very modest drop in the unemployment rate. Of course Labor welcomes that, but we saw today the extraordinary scene of the Treasurer crowing about an unemployment figure with a six in front of it. During the height of the global financial crisis unemployment never reached that height. In fact about 750,000 Australians are unemployed, and youth unemployment is still extraordinarily high at 13½ per cent. And in many places it is much more than that—even above 20 per cent. In some parts of Australia more than one in five young Australians cannot get a job.

The unemployment rate since this government came in has actually been higher than at any point during the global financial crisis. I think it is an extraordinary thing that we have a Treasurer who thinks that this performance is something to be proud of and something to boast about—that we actually have higher unemployment now than during the global financial crisis. Long-term unemployment is at a 16-year high, and indeed one in four unemployed people have now been unemployed for more than a year. It was one in eight in 2008.

The budget papers say that things are going to get worse. In fact, the budget papers predict an unemployment figure of 6½ per cent, the highest figure in 14 years. In this context, that same Treasurer is telling young Australians to go out and get a good job and earn a good wage so they can buy a home of their own. It is a stunning lack of understanding of the effects of his own contractionary policies on the Australian economy and on the real economy—the real budgets—of Australian families.

Last year we saw wage growth drop to its lowest level since the data series began in 1997. We have high unemployment, very low wages growth and a Treasurer who not only does not have a plan to fix this but who does not have a clue that it is happening. He does not have a clue about what is happening in ordinary people's lounge rooms and dining rooms as they are making decisions about the loans they might take on to buy a property of their own.

According to the ANZ-Roy Morgan survey and the Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey, consumer confidence has certainly taken a hit and not recovered. It is at the lowest level that it has been at this year at the moment, despite two cuts in the RBA cash rate. Curiously, we have the contractionary policies of the first Abbott budget, with its extraordinary cuts to the livelihoods of ordinary families—$6,000 cut from a family on $65,000 a year—and still spending at GFC levels of 25.9 per cent of GDP. So you have high unemployment, low wage growth and high spending, but cuts which hurt the confidence of Australian families.

Compare that to what has happened to cleaners today. One year ago in this parliament, last June—one year ago tomorrow, in fact—Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister, said that abolishing the Commonwealth Cleaning Guidelines would not affect cleaners' pay. He said:

I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that no cleaner's pay is reduced.

He said, 'No cleaner's pay is reduced,' in question time a year ago. Many of my colleagues joined cleaners out on the front lawns of parliament today as they were striking to make the point that cleaners cleaning Commonwealth offices—including the office of the Prime Minister, no doubt—have seen extraordinary cuts to their take-home pay.

There are programs that are designed to help young Australians find a job if they are unlucky enough not to have one—programs like Youth Connections. But the Treasurer said:

… I haven't seen that particular program. All I can say is, whatever was happening previously wasn't working …

In fact 93.4 per cent of those who got help from Youth Connections were still in a job or in education six months later.

The Treasurer does not even know what he is cutting: he has no plan for the future and no clue about today.