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

My question is to the Prime Minister. For the first time in 20 years, there are 800,000 Australians who are unemployed. Is 800,000 Australians being out of work the Prime Minister's idea of good government?

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

I do thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Of course we want unemployment to be coming down, not going up. But while unemployment did increase in the last monthly figures, and while unemployment has been higher than we would like in recent months, by the same token, employment has also been growing strongly in recent months and there are more than 330,000 more jobs now in our economy than there were at the time of the election—330,000 more jobs in our economy now than at the time of the election.

That is, in part, a function of the dynamism and the creativity of Australian workers; in part, it is a function of the dynamism and the creativity of Australian businesses; and, in part, it is a function of the good policy and the clear plan that this government has put in place. Our plan is to get taxes down, to get regulation down, to get productivity up, to build the infrastructure of the 21st century and to ensure that we have the educational institutions that will produce the best possible human capital for our country, for our society and for our economy in the years ahead.

I have to say: this is a government which is open for business. This is a government which is creating the conditions for job creation. If I look over the chamber, what do I see? I see an opposition that wants to bring back the mining tax. I see an opposition that wants a carbon tax of $200 a tonne. I see an opposition that could not even mention the economy at their national conference. I have concluded this answer.