Tony Smith (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 support Australian jobs and its attack on wages and employment conditions

I now call upon those honourable 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

This is a very important matter of public importance. I wanted to start by referring to ABS data released today which shows that the private sector seasonally-adjusted wage growth of 2.2 per cent over the last year is the lowest rate since the Wage Price Index series started. So, as a very important indicator of how the economy is going, we have the lowest wage growth in the private sector for what would appear to be at least 20 years—a remarkable situation, particularly in light of what the Treasurer said in question time about how well the economy is going.

I also want to refer to the ABS data of last week which showed that unemployment has hit 6.2 per cent—that is, 800,000 Australians. For the first time in 21 years, the figure is in excess of 800,000. And there are 114,000 more Australians lining the unemployment queues in this country since the Abbott government was elected—that is 114,000 extra Australians on unemployment queues since the election of this government. The rate of 6.3 per cent is the same rate that was in place when the Prime Minister was the Minister for Employment, and it is higher than at any point in the terms of the last two Labor governments, and even higher than at any time during the global financial crisis, the biggest economic shock to the developed world in 70 years. Mr Speaker, we listened to the Treasurer question time today; you would have thought that this was not the case. When you listened to the Treasurer and his response to a couple of questions from government members, you would have thought unemployment is falling. Well, unfortunately, unemployment is rising in this country, and the so-called 'jobs and family budget' of the government is hurting families and hurting jobs. This is the case.

Most disturbingly—certainly for us on the side but I would hope also for members opposite—youth unemployment is 13.8 per cent in this nation. A very disturbing and damning figure insofar as the government's failure to look after young people entering the labour market—a very damning figure. Nearly 300,000 of those 800,000 are between the ages of 15 and 24—that is 295,000 young people not learning, not earning, and looking for work and failing to find work. Let us be very clear about what has happened. We had a confidence-killing budget last year, introduced by the Treasurer, which killed business confidence and killed consumer confidence. We had a government that was not only imposing a contractionary budget but it was also scaring the Australian community. We had a Treasurer and a Prime Minister last year who decided that it was their job to talk down the economy of the nation. As a result, we had very low business confidence and very low consumer confidence.

Instead, we need a government that not only wants to talk the economy up but also wants to do something about creating jobs in this country. We should not do that by turning our back on sectors of the economy, including manufacturing. We saw what happened with respect to the car industry, which was killed off by this government. The Treasurer goaded Holden and they decided to leave our shores. We saw what they did in relation to the shipbuilding industry. They insulted shipbuilders in this country. The former defence minister said that our builders 'could not build a canoe'. He might be gone, but there has been no genuine commitment across the country regardless of the government's announcement last week in relation to this area of our economy.

People know that this government is not serious about looking after that industry and whatever vote-buying announcement they made last week in South Australia, they are not serious about investing in this industry. We have yet to see them change their position on reneging on building submarines in this country. We do not see this government partnering with industry, working with industry, to maintain and create jobs. At the time of the lowest wage growth and the lowest levels of industrial disputation in this country, what do we see from this government? We see a government focusing its very limited capacities in pursuit of unions and cutting employment conditions.

Last week the Productivity Commission handed down a draft report that had, I believe, some reasonable things to say about matters pertaining to employment. I will respond to those over time and up until the finalisation of the report. The report also opened up the idea that you could possibly divide workers in this country between those who should receive penalty rates and those who should not—we do not support that. What did the Prime Minister have to say about that? The Prime Minister said: 'I think there is a case for looking again at this issue.' Minister Abetz agreed. This is a very serious matter. We have a situation where the government is willing to consider cutting penalty rates for low-paid workers in this country—retail workers and hospitality workers, many of whom rely upon those penalty rates to ensure that they can pay the bills. We do have a minister for employment—he does not seem to be supporting too many workers in this country—who, when he is not invoking the marital status of Dolce or Gabbana to oppose marriage equality and when he is not talking about the referendum in Austria about opposing marriage equality—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will stick the topic of his matter of public importance.

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

is talking down to and insulting Australian workers. We have seen that recently. Not surprisingly, we have seen that in relation to his comments about retail workers who gave evidence to Labor's Fair Work Taskforce in Launceston on 1 July. The minister responded to those retail workers by saying they were union stooges and they were liars—he put out a media release effectively saying this.

Let me remind the minister, and the member for Bass and government members generally, that these workers are genuine workers and they presented testimony to the Fair Work Taskforce in relation to how things would affect them if they lost their Sunday penalty rates. In relation to what Sunday penalty rates mean to them, one of the workers said: 'It's the occasional movie, the occasional dinner. That's it.' Another said: 'It's making sure that my 14-year-old gets to play his basketball. It's paying the bills that fortnight because I pay my bills on my penalty rate week. That's when it happens.' Another said, 'I pay for my son's football on Sunday, and it contributes to the full-time day care of my daughter.' These are the things that really matter to ordinary workers, and the government has shown no sympathy whatsoever for these workers. We believe it is absolutely critical that the government clearly outlines what it wants to do in relation to employment conditions and what it seeks to do in respect of penalty rates. We would not want to see two classes of workers in this country—high-paid workers receiving penalty rates, and low-paid workers receiving cuts. That is not at all reasonable.

We also know that the government has no plans for future jobs. This side of the parliament knows that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations will require skills in science, technology, engineering and maths. It is Labor that believes that we need to invest in these skill areas, in research and innovation and to build and sustain the jobs of the future. What do we see from those opposite? An attack on the union movement, an $80 million witch-hunt and an attack on conditions of employment for low-paid workers. We have grave concerns.

If you are really committed to industry and committed to jobs, you have to care about these workers and you have to care about these people. You have to care about Australian industry and its workforce. You would not refer to decent low-paid retail workers as union stooges and liars if you cared. You would not be an apologist for an employer who decides to sack its workforce by text, if you really cared about workers. You would not surrender important local employment protections when negotiating trade agreements if you cared about local workers. You would not blame the crew of an Australian vessel for their employment conditions who had to hand over not only that vessel to a new crew in Singapore but to also hand over their jobs as well. Have we seen any sympathetic remarks or any concern for any of these workers? No. We have seen nothing from the Prime Minister, we seen nothing from the Minister for Employment or from any other frontbencher of this government because they have a callous disregard for ordinary working people who are trying make ends meet. For that reason they need a jobs plan and they need to commit to fair workplaces and fair workplace laws.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance. You have to hand it to the member for Gorton: he is a bit forgetful. But I am from the government and I am here to help! I will just remind him of a few facts. He forgot to mention the fact that there were 38,500 jobs produced last month. He forgot to mention the fact that more people came back into the search for work, which is welcome. The participation rate has increased to 65.1 per cent. More people are encouraged to look for work to get back into the workplace. He forgot to mention the fact that 335,800 new jobs have been created since this government was elected. He forgot to mention the fact that 23,000 jobs have been created every month over the last 12 months and that there have been 163,000 jobs created this year. This is great news for Australians who are looking for work.

What was the performance of Labor when they were in office? Did they produce 10,000 jobs per month when they were about to leave office? No. Did they produce 9,000? No. How many did they produce? It was a measly 3,600 every month. Yet the member for Gorton has the audacity to come into this chamber and feign concern for the job seekers of this country.

The opposition have no plan. They try to talk our economy down. But, despite their efforts, our economy is getting stronger. Australia enjoyed strong economic growth of almost one per cent in the March quarter, making us one of the fastest growing economies in the developed world. Nothing creates jobs faster and more effectively than a strong economy. Just last week, the ABS figures showed that the number of people in employment is at a record high. Some 11.8 million people are in work. Full-time employment is at a record high of 8.17 million people. Part-time employment is at a record high of 3.64 million people. The government is putting in place policies to increase the amount of employment in this country.

One example of those types of policies is our $5.5 billion 'growing jobs and small business' package. It is driving jobs growth in the small business sector. Small businesses around this country employ some 4.5 million Australians. Their contribution to Australian society and the economy should be acknowledged. That is what this year's budget delivered in spades.

Another example of good policy is our instant asset write-off, allowing small businesses to write off assets of up to $20,000, encouraging them to go out and invest in their business and put on more workers. Farmers in my electorate are able to immediately deduct all eligible capital expenditure on fencing and water facilities. Fodder storage assets will be deductible over three years.

We are cutting taxes for small business. Small business companies with an annual turnover of less than $2 million will enjoy a lower corporate tax rate of 28½ per cent. Around 1.7 million unincorporated small businesses are able to access a five per cent tax discount up to $1,000 so that they can get fair treatment with regard to taxation. These measures are stimulating our economy. These measures are encouraging small business to employ. These measures are good for small business and good for job seekers.

Labor's misleading and deceptive scare campaign is no more obvious than on the issue of youth unemployment. They ignore the fact that this government has committed some $330 million towards a youth employment strategy, while at the same time they have done next to nothing. The sum total of Labor's strategy with regard to youth unemployment and unemployment generally is a $20 million pilot program and a bit of a round-the-country talkfest. Heading off around the country on a talkfest—that is their strategy with regard to youth unemployment.

This government is spending 15 times more than Labor has on the table. This government is helping 15 times more job seekers than Labor propose to do. We are focused on youth unemployment. Our youth employment strategy includes, among other things, a $212 million Transition to Work program to assist young job seekers at high risk of long-term unemployment. There is $106 million to provide intensive support for vulnerable job seekers, including parents, young people, young people with a mental illness and young refugees and migrants. It is an important program aimed to assist people on their journey from welfare to work. We have a strong focus on early school leavers, encouraging early school leavers to get into the workforce. But, wait—there is more! We are redesigning wage subsidies to make them more flexible to encourage more employers to put on more workers. Our new $1.2 billion wage subsidy scheme will be paid sooner and more flexibly to assist businesses defray the costs of putting on additional workers.

When young people out there tell us that they cannot get a job because they do not have experience and that they cannot get experience because they do not have a job, we listen to those concerns. That is why we introduced the National Work Experience Program, giving young people up to four weeks of experience in a for-profit or not-for-profit business, with the aim of making them more employable and giving them assistance to get into the workplace.

On 1 July, the government's $6.8 billion jobactive program commenced, providing better services for job seekers and employers. It is good news for job seekers and businesses to have a new service delivering more efficient and more effective policies and services.

What is Labor's proposal? Labor's proposal is to burden our economy with a great big new environmental tax that is going to destroy jobs and an unrealistic carbon abatement target that is going to deter employment and reduce the growth in our economy. In the final months of the Labor government, Labor modelled a plan for a reduction target of 44 per cent that would slash cumulative GDP by some $630 billion by 2030, reduce income by nearly $5,000 per person and increase wholesale electricity prices by 78 per cent. I can see Honest Bill's ad campaign now—'We are going to drive up your electricity prices by 78 per cent! We are going to cut your income by $5,000! Vote for us!' I do not think the Australian people are that silly. I know Australian employers are not silly enough to swallow such a ridiculous scheme. We are about jobs; they are about holding the economy back.

Those opposite have a lot to say in relation to jobs in South Australia. In fact, it was Labor who left South Australian workers in the valley of death. Australian shipbuilding was held back by a failure by members opposite when they were in government to address our defence needs and to invest in necessary shipbuilding. To address the inadequacies of those opposite, this government is bringing forward the Future Frigate Program to replace the Anzac class frigates. That will stimulate jobs and the economy whilst improving our national security. We have confirmed a continuous onshore build program from 2020, three years earlier than scheduled under Labor's Defence Capability Plan—that probably should be Labor's 'defence incompetence plan'. The frigates will be built in South Australia and this will help to save more than 500 jobs, jobs that would not exist unless we put work to hand to fix Labor's mess. We are bringing forward the construction of the offshore patrol vessels by two years to replace the Armidale class patrol boat—a continuous build that will commence in 2018 and maintain around 400 skilled jobs. Once both of these programs ramp up, we will guarantee around 2,500 jobs for Australian shipbuilders for decades to come.

I would like to mention that this government has achieved what Labor could not achieve: we negotiated free trade agreements with China, South Korea and Japan. Labor could not do it. There was a lot of talk but no action. Our free trade agreements are going to create jobs. Our policies are going to create jobs. Members opposite have no idea. They have been in opposition for two years and the only policies they have on job creation are a talkfest and a $20 million pilot. They let job seekers down when in government and they continue to let job seekers down from opposition.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am a little bit shocked by the minister's contribution, because not once did he mention the words 'Productivity Commission'. Not once did he refer to that lemon of a report that was handed down by the Productivity Commission last week. Why? Why are the government now in hiding about this report? Because it goes after some of the lowest paid workers in this economy. Recommended in this government's Productivity Commission report was a cut in the take-home pay of the lowest paid workers in this economy. We are talking about retail workers and hospitality workers. The government think that is okay: 'Nothing to see here; we're just going to cut your pay.' Another cheeky trick by the government, trying to hide the fact that this is a lemon and they are going after the pay of some of our lowest paid workers.

How low is the pay that these workers earn? Last year the average wage of a cafe worker was $441 a week. There is not a lot you can do on $441 a week, yet the government want to cut their penalty rates on a Sunday. The government are not talking about the Monday rate or the Saturday rate; they are talking about the Sunday rate—the rate on which so many families and workers try to make up a decent pay. As we have heard, the people that that change most affects are the people who are trying to raise families, the people who are trying to pay the bills. These are people—mums and dads—trying to make ends meet, who say it is not the luxuries that will go; it is the kids' sport, the occasional movie. These are the kinds of things that will go for these low-paid workers.

The government are not going after the wealthiest in this country. In fact, they are quite keen to give them tax breaks. They are going after the people who are the lowest paid. The government are also not telling the truth about what the media has dubbed the 'take it or leave it clause'. Why aren't they telling us what they mean by this secret clause to force people to accept a contract which states, 'You can take these conditions of the job or leave it'? That sounds to me a lot like Work Choices. That sounds like we are harking back to the days where people going for a job were told: 'Here's your job. These are the conditions. Take it or leave it.'

This is the agenda of the government. They are not standing up for Australian workers, they are not standing up for jobs and they continue to attack the wages and conditions of employment. They are supporting bad bosses and backing bad bosses. We have seen that just in the last week, with 100 highly skilled dock workers sacked at five minutes to midnight by SMS: 'Check your email. You've been made redundant.' Rather than standing beside these workers and calling out these bosses and saying, 'What you have done is wrong,' rather than being fair and independent, they have backed in these bad bosses. The government's rhetoric is unbelievable. They are quick to stand up and have a go at unions, who are standing with those workers who have been made redundant, but they are dead silent when it comes to these bad bosses. The minister goes further to back them in, saying they are entitled to do that—they are entitled to sack people by text message; they are entitled to sack people via email. It is wrong, and the government should be ashamed at their inability to stand up for these workers.

Whether it is manufacturing, whether it is people working on docks or whether it is people working in retail and hospitality, the government are failing current Australian workers. They are failing to have a plan to secure jobs; they are failing to have a plan to create jobs. Worse still, in relation to the champion of their free trade agreements, the China free trade agreement, it is being suggested that workers will be imported, brought in, and (a) it is not guaranteed that they will be paid the same wages and conditions as Australian workers; and (b) they do not have the same qualifications as Australian workers. You can forgive an electrician or a plumber or a diesel mechanic or a mechanic working in many of the workshops around Australia if they fear losing their job to a foreign worker who does not know they are being imported deliberately to undercut wages.

Just yesterday at an NFF event—of all the events—Senator Bridget McKenzie let it out of the bag when she said: 'Don't worry. We're going to bring in 5,000 workers under the China free trade agreement to do that work. You won't have the high wages cost.' Your own are starting to tell the truth about what is going on under these agreements. The government need to get real and stand up for Australian jobs. They are failing, and Australians will judge them on it.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For what it is worth I do not believe that you should advise your workers via text that they do not have a job. It is not that I want to be on a unity ticket with Labor, but it might interest them to know that I was actually a member of a union for more than 20 years.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Which one?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian Journalists Association and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. I appreciate that unions—

Opposition members interjecting—

Shush, you might learn something. I appreciate that unions have a role to play, but it is everything in moderation. The member for Bendigo might also be interested to know that I am now going to talk about the Productivity Commission.

The coalition gave a commitment before the 2013 election to ask the independent Productivity Commission to undertake an independent review of the workplace relations system to ensure the Fair Work laws worked for everyone. The terms of reference for the commission review were carefully considered—they were—and in consultation with unions, employers and state governments. On 4 August the Productivity Commission released a draft report following an independent, evidence based inquiry into the workplace relations system. This is a substantial, 1000-page—you could call it a draft report; I would almost call it a tome—report prepared by the independent body following an extensive public submission process. The government is appreciative of the broad community input.

Opposition members interjecting—

Be quiet. It is important to note that this is a report to government, not by government—

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order!

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You have had your say; I am having mine. Despite a scare campaign by Labor and by the union movement—as I say, everything in moderation—the Productivity Commission has shown itself to be economically robust and socially responsible. We talk about fairness and decency—it is socially responsible. Labor's argument shows that they and their union masters are more interested in playing politics than engaging in a genuine, evidence based conversation about how the Fair Work laws can best work for employees, employers and the Australian community as a whole. Going back a little bit to Senator Abetz's comments, I do think he was quoted out of context: he is not callous, as the member for Gorton asserted in his offering. As I say again, I do not think workers should be fired by text. I have been to the Brisbane ports and I have seen how well they operate. I do believe they can operate better with more workers.

The government's position on penalty rates has clearly and consistently been that penalty rates are a matter for the Fair Work Commission to determine, not government. The draft report concludes that penalty rates should continue to be set by the Fair Work Commission. That, I think, is fair enough. I am sure that members opposite would think that was fair enough too.

We have heard a lot about jobs. I listened very carefully to the member for Cowper—he always makes a good and common-sense contribution. I heard him talk about Labor's failings as far as the submarines were concerned—you never ordered one. It is all well and good to come in here to talk about all the things that we should be doing and could be doing, but you on the other side never ordered one submarine. Last week $39 billion worth of Navy frigates and corvettes were placed on order by the Prime Minister—he is doing a fantastic job. Just recently we had the agriculture minister produce the Agricultural Competitiveness white paper. I might point this out to Labor members, if you only read the contents that would be sufficient: a fairer go for farm businesses; building the infrastructure of the 21st century; strengthening our approach to drought risk management; farming smarter; and accessing premium markets. It is all about jobs.

When the Leader of the Opposition was employment minister, or workplace relations as it was called, he delivered only 3,600 jobs a month in his tenure in that portfolio. Just last month, 38,000 new jobs were created by the Liberal-Nationals government—that is getting on with the job of delivering the sort of economic rebuild that we need after six long and sorry years of Labor government. We are getting on with the job of building the economy. We do not want to put in a job-destroying, industry-wrecking carbon tax, as Labor will as soon as they get back in. We hope that does not happen. We are getting on with the job of creating economic certainty, building jobs for the future and infrastructure.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is not the first time in the last couple of weeks that the member opposite has been shot down. Today he showed just exactly how far out of touch this government really is. They talk about the jobs they create; they are not talking about underemployment and they are not talking about full-time jobs. You can get a four-hour-a-week job or one for six hours a week, but that is not going to pay your bills or put food on the table or pay your mortgage or give you petrol to put in your car.

This MPI goes directly to the heart of the failure of this government. As the constituents of McEwen know, for the first time in 20 years more than 800,000 Australians are now unemployed. There are 100,000 more unemployed Australians than when Labor was last in government. We all know—or at least those who care to admit it—that the last time unemployment in this country was so high, the now Prime Minister was the employment minister, and that was in 2002. What are they doing while this is happening—while we have this 20-year high? They spend six or seven hours in party room meeting debating a no-brainer policy, because the Prime Minister cannot admit that he is wrong. No doubt they are secretly spending quite a bit of time looking at the polls to decide how they are going to dispatch the dead weight on this government and the Prime Minister. The only thing he knows is down. As they say in the classics, they are spending all their time fiddling while Rome burns.

It is not just the statistics on the ABS data. The failure of government is about real people around their kitchen tables wondering just how they are going to meet the mortgage payment next week. They are asking themselves: how are they going to be able to pay for the kids' clothes and how much petrol can they put in the car each week? These are the real conversations going on in households around this country. They happen every day of the week in Doreen, Mernda, Sunbury, Romsey, Seymour, Wallan and Craigieburn. Only last week I put up a message on my Facebook page about how this government is failing Australians. These were some of the comments I got. Michelle said: 'I am actually very frightened for my children's future. This government is killing our country.' Frank said that Australian workers are in for a long hard road; and Susan said to us that she was unemployed back in 2002 and now, thanks to Tony Abbott, she is unemployed again.

We hear these stories every day. Companies are closing down or downsizing their staff. Only yesterday I read of a business in the neighbouring electorate of Scullin, where a lot of people who live in my electorate work. The company, Tieman Industries, is going to close down; it is going to shut its doors after 70 years of business, of manufacturing and servicing, in this country. What it is trying to do is sell off some parts of the business to try to keep its manufacturing afloat. Why is it a problem? Because cheap imports are coming in. Why are they getting rid of the service technicians? Because under the secret FTAs that the government refuses to release electricians, servicemen and so on can be imported for less money, less conditions, less knowledge and less ability. This is what we are dealing with going forward because of this government's drive to the bottom on employment, wages and conditions. Yesterday Mr Tieman said that it was the difficult economic conditions and the strong offshore competition that put the pressure on, meaning the businesses were unsustainable.

The real issue at heart is that many people received a message to come to work, and in a newspaper article it said that they will all be paid their full entitlements and superannuation. Tieman employees went to work yesterday at 3 pm to have a meeting, only to find out what? There are no superannuation payments, their entitlements are gone and as of Friday they are all unemployed. Families—

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You know there is a super guarantee fund.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You should listen, just once. These families are not going to be able to pay their mortgage and are worried about their kids and their jobs and the future. You might sit there and scoff and laugh about it, but that just shows how out of touch and arrogant how this government has become. These are good, hardworking, honest people who are now shot because this government has no concern for Australian jobs. They laud the free trade agreements—'Look at this. Isn't this wonderful?'—but it comes at the expense of you, me and everyone else who goes out and works. All they are worried about is ensuring that we get this free trade agreement, which means that manufacturing jobs will go offshore. Thank God we have the Labor Party in here and to focus on a positive plan that includes science, technology, engineering and maths. These are the occupations that are projected to grow at almost twice the pace of other occupations. What we need to do is ensure that— (Time expired)

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

I am always delighted to rise to speak about jobs and employment in the House. This is because, as I have said many times before in this place, where there are jobs there are opportunities. We have also heard in this place on so many occasions that a strong economy builds jobs, growth and opportunity. These are not new concepts to this side of the House. This is a coalition government that supports small business—the backbone of our economy—by giving them the confidence and capacity to grow, and with their growth comes more employment opportunities—simple concepts I would think.

It is a shame that those opposite choose fearmongering over looking at their own record: their capacity to weaken productivity and growth in this nation; their unprecedented level of debt and deficit, a legacy that they ought not to be proud of and that they have failed to mention yet again today. Since the last election 336,000 more jobs have been created. We are committed to delivering stronger growth across our nation. Let me just point out some of our investments that would do that. We are investing $5.5 billion in the new Growing Jobs and Small Business package to kick-start economic growth, which will lead to better outcomes, particularly for small business and for the communities that are impacted and served by those small businesses. We will be delivering $3.25 billion in tax cuts for small businesses and $1.75 billion in accelerated depreciation measures in addition to the benefits that small businesses are gaining from the abolition of the carbon tax. We are investing $6.8 billion in jobactive, the new employment services system, which will help unemployed Australians into sustainable jobs. We will be investing a record $50 billion to build the infrastructure of the 21st century—infrastructure that will provide not only enormous economic benefits but also more jobs.

In New South Wales we are working very cooperatively with a forward-thinking state government on many infrastructure projects, such as those included in the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan, including in the electorate of Macquarie with the Glenbrook Ross Street upgrade to name but one. These projects will create some 4,000 jobs in road construction alone. WestConnex, another important project benefiting New South Wales residents, will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. The duplication of the Pacific Highway will create 4,000 jobs in construction. The NorthConnex will create some 8,700 construction jobs. And the proposed Western Sydney airport is forecast to produce 4,000 construction jobs, with 35,000 jobs by 2035. It is a shame that Labor again uses scaremongering rather than substantial policies in relation to employment. Indeed, youth unemployment is so important to those opposite that in the opposition leader's reply to the budget earlier this year he failed to outline any plan to tackle it. In contrast, to drive further employment the coalition's new jobactive services that I mentioned earlier will reinvigorate employment services by reducing red tape. It will provide incentives for young people to re-engage in education or employment by rewarding long-term unemployed youth through the job commitment bonus. It will provide financial assistance of up to $6,000 through the Relocation Assistance to Take Up a Job program.

There are so many initiatives that this government will undertake to assist our young people gain access to employment opportunities that I do not have time during this MPI to list and detail all of them. However, last week in the electorate I had the pleasure of attending the farewell and graduation of a Green Army project in the Hawkesbury. If I ever needed evidence of a successful coalition project for youth unemployment this was the one. The youth who were involved were delightful and wonderful young men and women. Together with their sponsor—the Hawkesbury Environment Network—their mentors and other relevant stakeholders, they spoke about the success of the project and the leadership skills and camaraderie that they experienced in the great outdoors. Of course, for many of them it opened doors to the next step: further training and jobs. This government has not failed to support Australian jobs and it does not attack wages and employment conditions. The truth is the coalition promised— (Time expired)

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian public must be getting a little immune to broken promises—promises such as no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to pensions and no cuts to the ABC and the SBS. But what about the big promise they made down in Adelaide? They were going to build 12 submarines in Adelaide. And what about that promise they made before the last election about no changes to the vehicle industry? The alarm bells should have rung when Tony Abbott addressed the listeners of 2UE and he said these words to them: 'workers' pay and conditions are safe with us.' This is the man who comes from Work Choices itself—he was one of its architects. He refers to it often in his book Battlelines.

Let us look at the record of what the government has been able to achieve over the last two years. What have they done about Australian jobs, about protecting Australian workers? For the first time in 20 years we now have 800,000 people unemployed. That is a disgrace. As the shadow minister said in his contribution earlier, we have 6.3 per cent unemployment—we did not have that figure at the height of the global financial crisis. We did not have a figure with a six in front of it—and that was the greatest financial crisis we had faced since the Great Depression. Youth unemployment is hovering around 13 per cent, but in my electorate youth unemployment is hovering around 20 per cent. This is an area that we do need to focus on. We do need to give opportunities to young people and we do need to invest in skills and vocational education to give them the start they need in life. The fact is that at the moment, nationally, 300,000 young people are unemployed. That is after two years of the Tony Abbott government. By the way, after that two years there are now 114,000 more people in unemployment.

The government's failure to create jobs is one thing, but look at how they treat workers. The minister for industrial relations came out the other day and said he thought it was all okay and appropriate for 100 stevedores to be sacked by text, at night. He thought that was okay, they were probably always getting text messages, so they could just be texted and told they were gone. That is something that you would think would be very disrupting for employees. We have seen before people who have been on docks with balaclavas and dogs, but here is a minister coming out and saying that that is okay—you can treat people like that; just text them that they are sacked. We should not be surprised because, after all, this is the party of Work Choices; and this is the party that for the first time in Australian history made it legal to pay people below award rates of pay. They attacked people who are on minimum rates. People were earning the bare minimum provided by awards, and they made it legal for the first time in history to pay people below award rates. So we should not be surprised that they commissioned a Productivity Commission report, with their investigations and recommendations coming down about penalty rates.

How can you stand by and see a recommendation and talk it up on the basis that there should be a two-tier system of penalty rates? If you are in the retail and hospitality industry, you are going to be treated as second-class citizens. By the way, they are not giving a guarantee that they will not go further at some point to look at police, emergency services, ambos and others—but at the moment they are saying Sunday is no different from any other day. We had the Assistant Treasurer walk in here yesterday and explain that there was no great significance about Sundays any longer. He said there was probably less religious observation occurring these days on a Sunday, so therefore why should Sundays attract double time—they should attract the same penalty rates as Saturdays. That is what they want it to mean for people who have been protected by penalty rates, normally vulnerable people; people whose exploitation has been prevented. If that is the cavalier attitude they take to workers, no wonder people cannot trust what they say—the people know that they cannot trust their promises. Labor will not join them in a race to the bottom on wages and conditions.

Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I reflect on the debate we have had here today I remember that there was a time when the Labor Party had a proud history, a proud goal, of opening up the Australian economy. I am quite happy to say that my family voted for the Labor Party of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating—a party that was prepared to open up the economy to the opportunities of a more globalised world. But the Labor Party of today is not that party and clearly the contribution of members here shows us that the Labor Party of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating is long dead. This China-Australia Free Trade Agreement that many members have mentioned is an agreement that will create thousands of jobs for Australians and future generations of Australians. In China we have one billion people coming into the middle class, and they want to buy not only our resources and our agricultural products but particularly our services, opening up opportunities to the next generation to sell products and services into a marketplace of 1 billion people, from a country of only 23 million people. Former ministers, people like Simon Crean, understand that reality. I think they must be hurting to see a Labor Party in a position today that is running away from the traditions of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating—campaigning against something that will open up our economy, create tens of thousands of jobs and provide opportunities for new generations of Australians. The modern Labor Party is campaigning against that.

Some members mentioned a union campaign around this. I have met the union leaders involved in this campaign. I have put these questions to them. Labor members would know this and should check this out themselves. When under these agreements a worker is hired in the industries that these Labor members across here are talking about, there is a three-step process In the first step, there will not be that word 'mandatory' when it comes to labour force testing, but in the second step there is. So the union has created this fear campaign based on a lie, saying that mandatory labour force testing will not happen before a worker is hired. That is a lie. The question that I put to the union members—

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Read chapter 10!

Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to the member opposite: read the reality of what happens before the worker is hired. The key point I put to the member opposite is this: does it happen before the worker is hired? Read it. It is a key issue.

Opposition members interjecting—

They are getting very sensitive! The key issue is: does it happen before the person is hired? If labour force testing happens before the person is hired, then their campaign is based on a lie and on fear. I think it is a remarkable thing that the new Labor Party is borderline xenophobic, campaigning against an agreement that opens up our economy and creates tens of thousands of new jobs. That is something that the Labor Party of Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Simon Crean would never do. This has been a long, long journey for the Labor Party.

On the issue of jobs, there exists a fundamental divide between this side of politics and that side of politics. I see it in my own community, when I walk around the community. The big creators of wealth and prosperity and particularly of employment are not the government; they are the enterprising individuals who are prepared to go out there and have a go. On this side of politics we simply say: how do we not make their life more difficult? There is a principle here. If we say to those people in our community who are going out and having a go trying to start a business and employ people, 'We will let you keep more of your own money in your pocket rather than take it out,' they might be able to grow that business and employ more people.

There is a fantastic quote from Winston Churchill that you cannot repeat enough in this place. Winston Churchill said:

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

This is something the Labor Party fails to recognise. When you create greater pressures on those people in my community trying to create employment, when you tax them more and make it harder for them to do business, they cannot go out there and do that. In the small business package that we introduced—the largest small business package the country has ever seen—that is exactly what we are doing: we are allowing those enterprising individuals to keep more of their money in their pockets so that they can grow their businesses and employ more people, creating greater prosperity for our region and our country.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to join in this matter of public importance debate brought on by the shadow minister, the member for Gorton, and it is a pleasure to take up one remark of the member for Longman. He spoke of a fundamental divide between our parties—and I agree with him. This is the most fundamental divide. We are the party of jobs—the high-skill, high-wage, secure jobs of the future, providing the decent wages and conditions that are the bedrock of our social compact. They have no regard for these things that are fundamental—not just to people's working lives but right across people's lives—to maintaining their living standards and a decent society.

The member for Longman, the youngest member in the parliament, apart from speaking of the China free trade agreement, which I will return to in a minute, could only take us to history rather than any vision of jobs for the future: a homily of Winston Churchill's, and a ridiculous rewriting of the Hawke-Keating years—an obsession of members opposite. Perhaps they could focus more on the record of achievement of their government rather than traducing a great Labor government of the eighties. I will just say this: in terms of his confidence in respect of ChAFTA, it is entirely misplaced, as any fair reading of the agreement shows. It will do nothing for Australian jobs, other than to put wages and conditions seriously under threat.

The member for Macquarie spoke of scaremongering on the part of opposition members—

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

And xenophobia.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And xenophobia. What an offensive remark! But back to scaremongering. We saw the hubris of the Treasurer in question time on jobs. The Treasurer cannot bring himself to mention the number 6.3, the percentage of unemployed, or 800,000, the number of people out of work under his government and his stewardship of the Australian economy. For us to call this government out on that is not scaremongering; it is doing our job. It is standing up for those 800,000 people and their families. It is standing up for them—something this government refuses to do.

Let us think about youth unemployment. Let us think about the tragedy that, in some parts of my electorate—and, I know, in my friend the member for Lalor's electorate—it is creeping up towards one in four young people out of a job, with no real plan for jobs from this government. This is a government that cut away supports like Youth Connections at a critical time of transition in manufacturing areas.

Let us also think about the anaemic wages growth that we have had for those who are in work. Minister Abetz, when he kicked off this great journey towards the Productivity Commission to try and resurrect Work Choices, spoke of a wages explosion. What a joke that is! How out of touch can this bloke be? This is, of course, the man who does not regard workers as anything more than disposable units, as he demonstrated so clearly—so starkly—in effectively endorsing the dismissal of 100 workers by text messages and emails sent just before midnight. It is treating people as commodities, not as human beings. Late last year he was rewarded for his bad behaviour by the Treasurer, who sent off Minister Abetz's Christmas wish list to the Productivity Commission just before Christmas, hoping nobody would notice.

Let us be clear about this. The Productivity Commission's terms of reference put everything that might matter to anyone who works for a living up for grabs. The draft report is worthy of consideration—although it is not of great interest to members opposite, it seems. It does contain an inconvenient truth. It recognises that the institutional framework we have is actually not too bad; it is working. It is working much better than its predecessor, in terms of productivity in particular. It also recognises that the labour market is not like other markets—a matter the member for Longman should have regard to. It recognises that it affects people's lives and their expectations for their future and for that of their families, and that, most often, employees alone are not as strong as employers in bargaining for reasonable workplace treatment. That is a matter that members opposite should reflect upon.

It is unfortunate that some recommendations of the Productivity Commission do not acknowledge this. I think about the pathway back to Work Choices in abandoning the better-off-overall test and the proposal for enterprise contracts. Let us be clear: whatever good is in the report, it is a dishonest road map back to Work Choices and back to the poverty of vision that this government and conservatives have had for 20 years for the world of work—to their lack of regard for the social compact, their lack of regard for jobs, and their lack of concern for inequality, despite the growing evidence that inequality is harmful for growth. Perhaps members opposite and the minister at the dispatch box should take a lesson from this contribution— (Time expired)

Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome talking on today's MPI. Our government believe that the best form of welfare is a job—that is the basis—and our work as a government is to create jobs. I will go through the list of incentives through which we are encouraging workers back into the workforce.

First, I might just touch on Sunday labour, Sunday work. The opposition are keen to prevent the erosion of Sunday workers' wages, but have they ever thought of the other side—that jobs are destroyed by people not working on Sundays? I have a friend who runs a motel in Emerald. He is at me as soon as I walk into his motel. He says, 'What are you doing about Sunday work? Why should I have to shut up shop on Sundays because I can't afford the wages at the Sunday rates?' He adds that he has plenty of people who want to work but he cannot open his doors because he cannot afford the wages. So there are people, there are men and women, who want to work on a Sunday to help the family budget or for whatever reason, but they are not allowed to. That is job destroying, as far as I am concerned, but I do not hear the opposition talking about that.

I guess Bill Shorten himself ran into this problem at the pie shop in Melbourne, when the lady who owned the business did not have enough staff to serve Bill immediately, which he demanded. That is why he got all tangled up and attacked the lady, who could not serve him quickly enough. Now, that lady probably did not want to work there herself, in her own business, on a Sunday. She probably would rather have been down at the beach. But, no, she had to work to keep the overheads of her business down and so that Bill could have his pie with mushy peas. But Bill did not see it that way. He could only see it with one eye, down a very narrow tunnel. What he needs to come to terms with is why that lady did not have more people working for her in her pie shop.

We plan to give a kick-along in the right direction to lots of industries. For example, if we keep taking fishing grounds off our fishing industry in Queensland, we will be importing not just 80 per cent of fish products, as we do now; we will be importing 100 per cent. There are no threatened species of fish in the Queensland waters. Nothing at all is under threat. So why would you want to close more boundaries? The Reef is healthy. The Gladstone harbour is very healthy. The prawns and the fish out of the Gladstone harbour have never been better—and that is from people who have been fishing and crabbing in that area for the last 80 years.

We want to build dams and weirs that will help our agricultural areas and, of course, help jobs. We do not want to see our power stations close. I have three in my electorate—Stanwell, Callide and Gladstone—and I do not want to see them close. But they would be under threat from Labor and their new emissions plans for if they get into power. If they get into power, heaven help the coal industry, which employs many, many people in many, many well-paying jobs.

We have a program for building roads and bridges—all good stuff. FTAs are bringing overseas students into Australia, and our new Colombo Plan is working really well, giving jobs to our teachers and educators. Agribusiness is getting a real kick-along from our free trade agreements, and that will produce more jobs on the land and in rural areas, where jobs are needed to keep country towns alive and well.

So, it is all good news as long as we stay in power, because we are the people who create jobs. For all those reasons that I do not have time to explain or go through, we are the party for jobs.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion is now concluded.