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

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

The Government’s failure to protect and invest in Australian jobs.

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

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

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

This is the worst government in Australian Federation history. Those opposite are addicted to a simple policy: they believe that the mindless, simple repetition of certain words will hypnotise the Australian people into believing that it is actually happening. And nowhere is the lie from this government greater than when it comes to them pretending to be about jobs and growth. Labor will never take a lecture from this mob about the creation of jobs. We will not take a lecture from them, and nor will Australians, about their faux commitment to employment when, since they got elected 700 days ago, unemployment is now at 800,000. Did you see how the so-called leader of Australia could not answer a straight question about how many people are unemployed? Did you see how his mouth went dry, his throat constricted and his eyes darted around the chamber when asked, 'When was the last time there were 800,000 people unemployed in this country?' He knows that it has not been since 1994. This is the worst anti-jobs Prime Minister we have seen in a very long time.

Mr Hockey is fond of saying what unemployment was in the Howard years, but I will remind Mr Hockey about jobs when he took over. Unemployment had a 'five' in front of it; it now has a 'six' in front of it. There are now 188,000 people who are long-term unemployed. There are 800,000 people who are unemployed full stop. There are over one million Australians who regularly record that they would like more hours of work. There are 800,000 people on the disability support pension, people who this government constantly malign and put in the too-hard basket. We see youth unemployment much higher than it should be. We see record highs of unemployment in Western Australia. Since Mr Abbott and his Liberals were elected in Australia, unemployment in Western Australia has gone up by nearly 30,000 people.

Jobs are a problem in this country and the government has no answer to it. Yet on Saturday in Adelaide this Prime Minister got up and said to the party faithful—which is a dwindling number, I recognise—that the government had had 'two great years in government'—that is his summary.

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

I would hate to see two shockers!

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

It fills me with horror to imagine what this Prime Minister imagines two bad years of an Abbott government looks like!

But the real problem, if we want to talk about jobs, is that the masterminds of this so-called jobs and growth mirage that this government keeps talking about have been in chaos all this week—and it is only Wednesday. Look at the dysfunction of this government. This week the Prime Minister got out his well-dusted riot act and read it again to his colleagues and he worked strenuously, tirelessly, through an empty cabinet agenda—it was not quite empty though, was it? There was an important note for the team at the bottom of the empty box, the folder box—presumably it was from the ministry of truth, or whatever they are calling the Prime Minister's personal office these days—that said, 'If asked about cabinet leaks, respond that the cabinet is functioning exceptionally well'. How do we know it is functioning exceptionally well? Because they leaked it to us! Who needs Sky to find out what is going on when we have the cabinet ministers.

They are a government that are fond of creating division in this country. Everything that goes wrong for this government, everything they mishandle, they blame on a new confected set of enemies. The unhinged attack on the environment over the last two days has been remarkable. The Prime Minister's latest anti-environment rant saw him say of the EPBC: 'We've got to change the law. The law's bad; the law is a terrible law. I, Tony Abbott, will step up with my shining cross and I will change it and save the people and take them to the promised land on the environment.' The problem is that the law he wants to change was introduced in July 2000. 'Uh oh', you think, 'July 2000? Was that when the socialists were running the government or is that when the communists were running it?' It was actually John Howard running it. Since John Howard introduced the very protection for the environment, the good process, that the Prime Minister is so desperately trying to get rid of, there have been 5,500 projects go through that process. Clearly the Prime Minister is justifying not fixing up the mistake in the ranks of his own ministry. You would conclude that to justify this wholesale onslaught on the so-called law-fare crisis in the environment, to justify this great big new crisis, which demands—probably they will be wearing uniforms next to deal with the crisis. What we have seen is 5,500 successful projects—

Mr Christensen interjecting—

Listen: you have been at Reclaim Australia, enough from you.

Mr Christensen interjecting—

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

The member for Dawson will cease interjecting!

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

and we have seen 33 Federal Court challenges. Is that the number you just heard me say? Out of 5½ thousand projects under this great epidemic—this conspiracy of the Green-Left-John Howard alliance to ruin Australia—only 33 have gone to the Federal Court, and they have been against a total of 22 projects. That is 33 applications against 22 projects out of 5½ thousand projects—there is a clear crisis here. That is 0.4 per cent for those of you opposite who cannot count.

I will take you through the 33, because, after all, the government said: 'Stop everything, we're the champions of jobs. We're going to clean up this terrible scandal.' I do not know why they do not have a royal commission into it. They say four were discontinued or resolved with the consent of the parties. Okay, well there are still 29. They said six were legally successful, in the sense that the application received a judgement; all the others were unsuccessful. So in fact there have been six successful claims on 5½ thousand projects on a change introduced by John Howard in 2000—this is a crisis. You can see how this has made the otherwise very busy people stop their leaking and drop their pencils and everything else. In fact, in 15 years of this massive jobs crisis, which only Tony Abbott can save Australia from, there has been one project cancelled.

An opposition member: What?

What did you say? One project.

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

The Leader of the Opposition will refer to members by their proper titles.

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

The current Prime Minister. As grand conspiracies go, this has been about as systematic and effective as the CIA's exploding cigar in Castro's face.

This is not about jobs. We know that the Prime Minister simply and utterly does not have a plan for jobs. What you do when you do not have a plan for jobs is start creating false bogeymen and saying, 'We better be careful. We better be scared. Don't get out of bed in the morning because the Greens are under the bed with this terrible section of the act crafted by John Howard.' The government do not have a plan for jobs. They could have fixed this whole issue without spending months going through legislation simply by asking the department to resubmit the document to the minister. The minister could have just checked, because he made an identical mistake some months ago.

When we talk about the jobs plan of the government, firstly, we know that the numbers are horrific under this government.

Mr Christensen interjecting—

Are you still here, Member for Dawson?

Mr Christensen interjecting—

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

The member for Dawson will cease interjecting.

Mr Christensen interjecting—

The member for Dawson is warned.

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

Secondly, we have seen this false conspiracy about the Greens. Then they talk about the failure of jobs and growth. The problem with the government and jobs and growth is that they have had two years to do something about employment. When I listen to this government talk about jobs and growth, I close my eyes and ask, 'Who has been helped by this government?' Is it the auto workers at Holden and Toyota?

Opposition members: No!

Is it the refinery workers at Gove?

Opposition members: No!

Is it the shipyard workers in Williamstown and Newcastle?

Opposition members: No!

Is it the Alcoa workers in Geelong?

Opposition members: No!

Is it whole communities such as Queenstown on the west coast of Tassie?

Opposition members: No!

Is it the 100 dock workers at the Port Botany terminal who were sacked by text the other day?

Opposition members: No!

How does this government care about jobs? What does Senator Abetz, the minister for 'Work Choices lite', he of Dolce and Gabbana fame, have to say? He says, 'Fair enough. Why not sack people by text?' He wishes he had thought of it first.

If we want to talk about the lack of commitment to jobs of this government, let's have a look at renewable energy. Last year the world added 1.2 million jobs in the renewable energy sector. You might think, 'Fair enough. We must have got a portion of that.' No. We have gone back 13 per cent in the last year in renewable energy jobs. Only under this incompetent leader and his incompetent, divided administration could Australia go backwards on renewable energy jobs when the rest of the world is going forward. We know there is only one job that matters in Australia to this Prime Minister—his own.

The government talk about ChAFTA and attack Labor and tell scurrilous lies about Labor's opposition to it. We do believe in trade liberalisation. We do believe in the benefits and that it brings new markets. We get that. But a free trade agreement does not mean signing a blank cheque. By rushing into a free trade agreement, this government is planning to dud Australian workers. It is clear that when it came to land purchases which might be facilitated by ChAFTA this government held the line. They created a new standard. But when it came to labour and people, they sold them out in a heartbeat. They said, 'Don't worry about the fine print. We'll just trust everything. Let's get rid of the safety net. Let's get rid of labour market testing in these IFAs.' This is a government who we know care only about some jobs and not other jobs. Labor like all the upside of this agreement; we just not will not sign on to all the downside of this agreement.

This is a government who have no plan for workers and no plan for quality jobs. They have no plan for skills, no plan for schools, no plan for TAFEs, no plan for universities, no plan for research, no plan for manufacturing, no plan for renewable energy, no plan for good jobs and no plan to attract good jobs in the future. They have no plan except to save their own worthless jobs.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to congratulate you, Mr Speaker, on your appointment. Once again we hear the Labor Party making all sorts of charges against the government and making all sorts of claims about how the Chinese FTA is going to be bad for Australian workers and about how Labor are so genuinely concerned about the unemployment rate and about jobs for Australians. Once again with Labor, there is a difference between what they say and what they do. Labor, time and time again, come in here and wring their hands and claim the sky is going to fall in, that the government has sold out Australian workers and that only Labor can be trusted with the future of Aussie workers. In reality, there form is so very different. In reality, the facts never actually back up the hollow rhetoric that we hear from the opposition leader or, more broadly, from the Labor Party.

The fundamental facts prove in a comprehensive way that Labor's form when it comes to looking after Aussie workers is pathetic. Labor's form in government saw the unemployment rate go up, not go down. Labor's form in government saw them preside over the loss of some 200,000 jobs. That was Labor's track record after six years. That is before we even start on the situation that Labor left us with with respect to debt and deficit.

This MPI today is about jobs. That is a measure the coalition is proudly benchmarked against every single day of every single week. Our track record of standing up for Australians—I have news for the Australian Labor Party—is so much better than theirs. Unlike the Labor Party, unlike Bill Shorten when he was in the role of government minister and presided over a loss of 200,000 jobs, the coalition government in the two years or thereabouts since we were elected have presided over 330,000 new jobs.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How many?

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been 330,000 new jobs created under the coalition.

What is more, when you compare our track records on governing the nation, we have provided steady economic stewardship. When you talk about creating the right environment for Australian businesses to get out there and employ people, this is a government that have recently invested $5.5 billion in the biggest small business package this country has ever seen.

This government believes in the ability of the small business sector to drive the Australian economy—so much so that it has been able to create a job creation rate that is four times the level that was created under the Australian Labor Party. This is a government that has a job creation rate that exceeds that which has been achieved in every single G7 nation. This is a government that has achieved a job creation rate that has been stronger than that of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. This is a government with form on creating jobs. I say this to the Labor Party: the simple fact is that Aussies know that as a government we have delivered, and we have delivered in spades. We have delivered 330,000 jobs against Labor's loss of over 200,000 jobs.

The Labor Party do not want to even look at the facts. They come in and run a nationwide scare campaign on the China-Australia FTA. We see the Labor Party in cahoots with the union movement. Every single one of them sitting opposite are all former members of trade unions, all former union hacks that have gotten themselves into parliament as a direct consequence of preselection votes delivered by Labor union members. That is the reason why the Labor Party supports this xenophobic campaign that is being run by the union movement.

It simply comes back to the fact that the Labor Party are so desperate to stand up for the trade union movement that they will fabricate absolutely any charge against the FTA purely for the simple fact that they want to stand up for their union masters. Every single one of these people opposite is in here because of trade union delegates.

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

That is right; that is exactly right!

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am glad that they agree so heartily, because we know who pulls the strings on that side of the chamber. When the CFMEU says, 'Jump,' they collectively say, 'How high?' When the AWU says, 'Jump,' they collectively shout, 'How high?' When the ASU shout, 'Jump,' they collectively shout, 'How high?' The fact is that every single one of them is nothing other than union puppets in this chamber that pretend that they are concerned about the national interest.

When it comes to the FTA, you can forgive the fact that the government is a little bit concerned, perhaps even little bit confused, about the fact that the Labor Party like to talk out of both sides of their mouth. We hear that most strongly from the Leader of the Opposition. He is so prone to speaking out of both sides of his mouth that it has actually become his approach to life. We can see the Labor Leader of the Opposition speaking out of one side of his mouth to Julia and a different side of his mouth to Kevin Rudd: 'You've got my support. I am on board with both of you.' And we see it now with respect to the FTA.

The simple fact is that the China-Australia FTA provides every single safeguard that has always been in place under every FTA and that continues to be in place today. When the Australian Labor Party stand up and the opposition leader claims that there are not requirements for there to be labour market testing, that is a complete and utter fabrication. When the Australian Labor Party claim that Australian workers will lose their jobs in order for foreign workers to come into the country, that is a complete and total fabrication. When dishonest members like the member for Bendigo claim that, for example, when electricians come along to fix issues in their homes, Aussies cannot trust the quality of the workmanship, that is a complete fabrication as well.

Mr Champion interjecting—

Let me explain something to the very ignorant shadow parliamentary secretary opposite, because clearly the Labor Party do not understand the way the China-Australia FTA works or the way the IFA works or the way the 457 visas work. So let's make it really straightforward. I will spoonfeed it to Labor members opposite. The fact is that under a 457 visa, in order for someone to come into the country as a foreign worker, they have to satisfy labour-market testing rules.

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

Yes, because we put them in.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, yes—now he says it—because the Labor Party implemented it. So we actually have the Labor Party now saying, 'Yes, we concede that there is labour-market testing.' We have the Labor Party now saying that they concede that there is labour-market testing. Well, why don't you tell the truth with respect to the claims against the China-Australia FTA? The simple fact is no-one, no foreign worker, can come into this country unless labour-market testing has been put in place under a 457 visa. So wake up to yourselves, Australian Labor Party, because the scare campaign that you have been running is hollow, it is false, and the Leader of the Opposition's claims are nothing more than a fabrication.

This government will continue to stand up for Aussie jobs and, most importantly, for Aussie investment. What we know is that the Labor Party will walk away from Australian workers, just like they walked away from the Adani project—a $20 billion project that will create 10,000 jobs, that will provide electricity to 100 million people. Labor walked away from it because they are more concerned and focused on doing what they can to drive a scare campaign, to keep their Greens colleagues onside, to make sure that they do not jeopardise their opportunity to secure preferences in forthcoming elections. Those are the principal drivers for the Australian Labor Party—not the future for one hundred million Indians, not $20 billion worth of investment, not 10,000 jobs. It is all about the Labor Party and their union mates. The simple fact is that Australians know that an investment like Adani—$20 billion, 10,000 jobs—is an investment that requires leadership and protection, and that is what the coalition government will continue to do, in exactly the same way that we will continue to drive investment into this country because we know that investment into Australia creates jobs. For the same reason, we will support with robust policy the strongest small business package and the lowest company tax rate for more than 30 years, because we believe in a bright future for this country, unlike the Australian Labor Party.

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

Well, I barely know where to start. This is a government that has got unemployment with a '6' in front of it, 100,000 more people out of work, 300,000 of them young Australians without any prospect of a future with this government in charge, and we have the parliamentary secretary giving us a lecture on Adani. We know what the true story of Adani is—it was an approval by the Newman government under a Howard government act. So, if this is anybody's omni-shambles, it is yours—it is the Liberal Party's omni-shambles. We know this because Lenore Taylor wrote an article in The Guardian yesterday headlined, 'Abbott government war on green "saboteurs" is Laurel and Hardy slapstick'. That is what we just got from the parliamentary secretary—slapstick, an alternate reality which we are all supposed to subscribe to while those opposite go about their business of chaos and confusion.

I know through bitter experience this government's attitude to jobs and investment. I remember the headline from last year, on 11 December, 'Hockey dares GM to leave'. What happened when they rejected that billion dollars' worth of investment? I can tell you and the member for Corio can tell you what happened: 50,000 jobs in Victoria and South Australia were flushed down the toilet. We are now seeing the consequences of that in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and in the suburbs of Melbourne and Geelong. We are seeing the rejection of a billion dollars' worth of foreign investment from General Motors, from Toyota.

What else have we seen in the southern states? We have seen them export jobs to Japan. How do we know this? The National Security Committee of cabinet signed off on the press releases and on the decision to build submarines in Japan. With that, thousands and thousands of manufacturing jobs, white-collar jobs, engineering jobs and design jobs will disappear. That is the reality. Don't trust me—look at the headlines: 'Shipyard closures start with job losses'; or from the ABC, 'Adelaide shipbuilding company ASC expecting more job losses, Senate inquiry told', which went on to say,'266 jobs had been lost from the company in the past three months.' It goes on. The ABC news again: 'Twenty-six shipbuilder workers at ASC told not to come back'. And then there is Williamstown. This is from The Age: 'Abbott government under fire as 125 jobs axed at Williamstown shipyard'.

That is this government's record; it is a miserable record. What are those people—those who are being thrown onto a labour market that is poorly adapted to meet their needs, because this government is asleep at the wheel—told? 'Oh, things are great. Things are terrific. It's wonderful.' They should be doing handstands about how great this government is. Talk about delusions of grandeur! It is also a government that leaks; it is full of inaction. There are attacks on wind farms, the appointment of a wind farm commissioner. Then we get them railing against a Howard government environmental act. There was the decision by the Newman government—they were the ones who stuffed up Adani, not the Labor Party. Don't come in here and point the bone at us: it was your people, your state government, who did it. Why did it fail? It failed under the Howard government test.

Where are we left? I will tell you: we are left with a government that is not functioning—as the cabinet has been told—'exceptionally well'. We have now reached the levels of farce with this government, and we all know it. When your lines leak—and trust me I know this—when people start joking about the lines leaking and everybody is laughing, 'Oh, yes, we had another leak today,' then it's all over. I wish those opposite well with their deliberations on who might replace the Prime Minister. We all know the clock is ticking on him. Sooner or later someone is going to get the majority in the party room, and the 39 will grow to 61 or something like that. And then it will all be over for this Prime Minister, and well should it be, because he has failed on this fundamental question of jobs. That is why this government is descending into chaos and confusion. That is why they should fail.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is very hard to follow that comedy act. It is very hard to follow all of the show that was the contribution from the member opposite. I am simply going to have to rely on substance here, because substance is what wins the day when we are talking about growing our economy and strengthening jobs in this country.

My colleague who spoke earlier talked about the fact that Labor's record when in government was not very strong. We saw a loss of over 200,000 jobs when they were in office. Contrast that with our record, halfway through our term: we have seen the creation of more than 330,000 jobs. Labor likes international comparisons, so how does that compare with countries overseas? It compares very favourably when compared with the UK: we are ahead of the UK in the number of jobs created. When you compare us to the US, we are ahead of them; when you compare us to Canada, we are ahead of them, too. In fact, when you compare us with any other G7 nation, we are creating jobs—

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

Where?

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

more strongly than they are. That is our government's record. Job creation over the last year is in fact more than four times the level of Labor in their last year in office. It is the highest level in five years. Why is this job creation so great in this country? It has to do with the fact that we have a plan. We have a plan to increase jobs in this country by creating new opportunities. Those opportunities come in the form of FTAs. We have created the China free trade agreement, the Korea and the Japan free trade agreements, which increase the markets available for our goods and services.

Opposition members interjecting—

If you listened, you might learn something. The goods and services that we export overseas have new markets because of these free trade agreements that we are putting into place. When we are able to export more, we are increasing the jobs available to people back home. Let me give you an example. In my electorate of Higgins there is a manufacturer of infant formula. Under the Korean free trade agreement we will see duty-free quotas for infant formula. This means there will be new markets or increased markets to sell in Korea. Under the Japanese agreement, there are duty-free quotas for these manufacturer milk products. Under the Chinese agreement, we will see a decrease in tariffs on dairy products of up to 20 per cent. This means that the manufacturer of infant formula in my electorate of Higgins will be able to increase their sales and grow the economy and jobs here.

It is not only through the free trade agreements that we are increasing jobs; it is also through our other policies—our small business policies, the company tax cut for small business in the last budget of more than 1.5 per cent. This means that there is more money in these small businesses to grow small businesses. When you grow small business you create new jobs, and that is what is being done right now. We are also cutting red tape, more than $2 billion worth of red tape, which again means that we are focusing on making sure that when businesses are spending money they are spending money on employment, not just spending money on simply trying to get through the morass of red tape that currently exists, and that increased under the previous Labor government.

Finally, we have a $50 billion infrastructure plan where the construction that will take place under this government will lead to new jobs. The real risk comes from those opposite who refuse to put in place protections for workers through the reintroduction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which will in fact—

An opposition member: Are you talking about protection for workers?

Protection of workers from the thuggery and intimidation we have been seeing and we have heard about through the royal commission. That has been going on under Labor and it will continue to go on under Labor, which threatens jobs. (Time expired)

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

This is a very important motion because employment security underpins the wellbeing of a nation. Indeed, it is a key indicator of a strong economy. On that score, members opposite and their government have failed miserably, and the Australian public know it and are saying it in spades. Let me just give you a quick contrast between the previous Labor government and this government. The Labor government managed this country during a period of global financial downturn worse than we had seen since the 1930s, and yet we kept the Australian economy growing, we kept unemployment at modest numbers—indeed, much better than in most parts of the world—and we even kept the national debt to a fraction of what it was in other parts of the world. In contrast, when this government came to power it inherited a stable economy, but while other countries like the UK, New Zealand and USA are rebounding from the global financial crisis Australia is sinking downwards. We have seen that with unemployment now hitting 800,000, with 300,000 of those being young people. We see consumer confidence across the country worse than it has been for years, we see an economy at below trend growth of 2.3 per cent and we see the budget deficit doubled in the last year alone.

The Abbott government has mismanaged the economy, destroyed national confidence and imposed short-sighted austerity measures which are, in fact, failing the Australian people. We have seen billions of dollars cut from programs that go to the heart of jobs growth, productivity gains and efficiencies, scaring consumers and business alike. Indeed, we have seen $2 billion cut from skills programs alone. We have had $3 billion cut from science, research and innovation programs across Australia. That includes $846 million in industry support programs, including successful programs like Enterprise Connect and Commercialisation Australia. One of the worst and starkest stupidities of this government is its rollout of the NBN; a slower, more costly and behind schedule rollout than we would have had under Labor. Everyone in Australian knows that the NBN is vital infrastructure to productivity and jobs growth in this country except members opposite. Indeed, I get it all the time: 'What dopey ministers does this government have that simply do not get the importance of a high-speed NBN rollout to Australia's future?'

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

Pretty much the entire cabinet.

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

Absolutely. But it gets much worse than that. We have a government that believed there was no future for the car industry in Australia, killing off not only Holden but also Toyota and hundreds of component suppliers in one fell swoop. Then they destroyed the renewal energy industry, cutting investment in that industry by 88 per cent in 2014 alone. I can tell members opposite that I have spoken to people in my electorate who were affected by those cuts.

And we have seen the Australian government also trashing the reputation of the Australian Submarine Corporation, Australia's largest naval shipbuilder. The previous defence minster said that they could not be trusted to build a canoe. He did not even allow them to participate in the competitive evaluation process for the submarines, and sent the supply vessel contract offshore. There are going to be another thousand jobs lost by Australian naval shipbuilders in this country over the next three years. I have heard the remarks of the Minister for Defence about how they have brought forward contracts to 2018, but 2018 is three years away. People need jobs now, and in the meantime there are going to be another thousand of those jobs lost—particularly in my home state, where those jobs are crucial given that they come on the back of the closure of Holden in 2017.

Again, it does not stop there. We now have a free trade agreement which jeopardises the jobs of Australians, albeit those members opposite are in denial about that. The reality is that it does. Even worse than that, we have legislation that wants to send offshore Australian jobs in relation to Australian coastal shipping. Another clear example of this government not caring one iota for the jobs of Australian people but simply trying to secure jobs for people elsewhere by sending our contracts offshore, by allowing offshore labour to come in and do jobs that we could otherwise be doing and by cutting out the skills training to ensure that our young people could do the jobs that will be coming up in the near future. We have 300,000 unemployed young people in this country, and in my part of Adelaide those figures are around 20 per cent. This government needs to have a good hard look at its policies because its policies, when it comes to unemployment, are failing the Australian people. (Time expired)

Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this MPI on jobs. Politics is an adversarial profession—each side of the chamber works against the other, the idea being that we test each other's ideas and policy through spirited debate and arrive at the best possible outcome for those we represent. The system only works when everyone operates within the same rules, and those rules include telling the truth. The CFMEU has well and truly    crossed the line in their xenophobic and mendacious—a term they like over there—campaign against the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. In bringing them to account for this I need to be careful, because here in this place I am bound by another rule, which is that I cannot, no matter how plainly obvious it is, call anyone a liar. Let me see how else I can explain what has happened.

Many of my constituents have found this flyer in their letterbox over the last few weeks. This flyer was authorised by Michael O'Connor of the CFMEU. On this flyer there are three key points, and each one is stated to be a 'fact'. None of the three points on this flyer are indeed facts. They are not even close to the truth. There is no interpretation of this agreement which could possibly lead anyone to draw the conclusions which Mr O'Connor and his union have presented as facts. I would like to talk the House through these three points of fiction which are being dumped into the letterboxes across the my electorate. The first says:

Chinese companies who invest $150 million or more will be able to bring their own workforces to Australia without having to offer jobs to Australian citizens and residents first.

The CFMEU would have us believe that there will be boatloads of cheap foreign labourers arriving to push Australians out of their jobs. There is absolutely nothing in the China free trade agreement which would allow this to happen. The 457 visa system will remain in place—Australian workers will always get first dibs at jobs in Australia. The CFMEU go on to claim:

Chinese companies will be able to bring in Chinese-produced products with no safeguards to ensure they meet Australian standards.

Pure fiction! There is nothing in this or any other free trade agreement that would allow undercutting of Australian import regulations and nothing that would change Australian safety laws. They go on:

Chinese companies do not have to meet the same labour and environment standards as Australian companies—undercutting our jobs and conditions.

No free trade agreement allows any offshore company to operate in Australia outside Australian law. There is no possible legal instrument, no legislation this parliament could pass, which would allow that to happen. This is not just an exaggeration; this has been pulled from the realms of fantasy. It is not only not happening; it is absolutely not possible. The allegations in this flyer are absurd and unbelievable. It is a discredit to the union movement of Australia. However, this nonsensical pamphlet is not all bad. In fact, I owe the CFMEU a vote of thanks. I am truly grateful that they have included a nice picture of me in this pamphlet, and they have put my name there—you can see there is an arrow there, along with my office phone number. I am very pleased about that. It is great that they are putting their money into raising my profile in my electorate, so I just want to say thank you.

The Australian people know that Labor is against jobs. Australians know that this is a truly xenophobic campaign being run by the unions, and they know that Labor has a choice—they can support the unions or they can support Australians and make sure that we take the opportunity to implement this free trade agreement that can build on jobs and build on growth. The choice is theirs. They can oppose the free trade agreement and risk thousands and thousands of jobs, they can support this xenophobic behaviour of the unions, or they can support real jobs and real growth in this country? (Time expired)

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have heard from my colleagues this afternoon about the enormous impact that the Abbott government has had on jobs in this country and their failure to protect jobs and invest in jobs. We have heard from my colleagues from South Australia about the thousands of jobs that have gone in the shipbuilding and auto industries. We have heard from the Leader of the Opposition about the 800,000 who are now on the unemployed queue as a result of this government's complete disdain for workers and its complete lack of a jobs plan for this country. We have heard about the thousands of jobs lost in South Australia and the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost throughout the country, but nowhere has been more affected than here in Canberra. Since this government has been in power, 8,500 public service jobs have been cut in Canberra alone. In the two years that this government has been in power, 17,000 public service jobs have been lost across the country. The government have complete contempt for Canberra, complete disdain for the public service and complete disdain and disrespect for public servants—the servants of democracy. We have seen today the impact that that is having on my community. The government wears those 8,500 jobs as a badge of honour. There have been 8,500 jobs cut in the public service but they do not care about the Canberra community. To them the Canberra community is just a bunch of double-dippers, just a bunch of fat-cat bureaucrats. Canberrans are doing it tough and the figures today in the Financial Review underscore the fact that they are doing it tough. Of the top 100 postcodes at risk of mortgage default there are a number in my electorate: Kambah, another is Tuggeranong, another is Greenway, another is Oxley, another is Wanniassa, another is Erindale—people in my community, in Canberra, are suffering as a result of 8,500 public service jobs being cut by this government. That is just the beginning. There are so many reviews going on right across the public service, who knows where that figure will stop.

Coalition governments have form. We saw in 1996 what they did to my town. I was one of the people who lost their job—one of the 15,000 public servants who lost their job here in Canberra, with 30,000 losing their jobs across the nation. What did that mean for Canberra? It saw us go into an economic slump and it took us five years to dig ourselves out of the hole that was created by a coalition government in 1996—the same hole that they want to create for this community again by cutting 8,500 jobs in Canberra and 17,000 throughout the country. It is an absolute disgrace. They just do not care for the servants of democracy—the people who serve this government; the people who write the ministerial representations, the people who represent you overseas, the people who write your question time briefs and ministerial submissions. The government have shown complete disdain for these people. How do you repay them? You sack them! Eight and a half thousand of them! As I said, it is just the beginning.

I go back to my point about what happened in 1996. Fifteen thousand jobs were lost in this town. We went through an economic slump for five years. We saw business bankruptcies go up. We saw non-business bankruptcies go up. We saw house prices plummet. We saw the population fall. We saw people leave town. As I said, it took us five years to get out of the economic slump that was created by a coalition government. That is the same direction that this Abbott government wants to take Canberra in. Its 8½ thousand public service job cuts are just the beginning.

What does this mean? Look at the figures in the Financial Review today from a review on mortgage defaults by Digital Finance Analytics, whose principal said:

The most difficult thing for a mortgage holder is suddenly losing your job because income goes from a certain level to a lower level and it's quite hard to manage. …

Events across Australia impacting on employment are probably the best leading indicator of the probability of default.

What we are seeing now are these figures playing out in my electorate—in Kambah, in Greenway, in Oxley, in Wanniassa, in Erindale. They are all doing it tough as a result of the Abbott government. It is not likely to get any better in the near future while this mob is still in government. I say to Canberra: get rid of this Abbott government. They mean nothing but bad for you. They have nothing but contempt and disdain for you. Get rid of them!

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a hide the opposition have to come in here and talk about jobs, when all week all we have heard is Beltway stuff. We just heard a lot about Canberra then. That is all we have been hearing from the Labor Party for the last week. It is just Canberra, Canberra, Canberra! It is just insider politics from them, while the government is talking about job creation.

We are talking about something, Mr Deputy Speaker, that I know is close to your heart and close to my heart. We have been talking about trying to get the Carmichael mine back on track. This is a mine that, with the associated rail line, the Abbot Point expansion and the associated indirect jobs that would be created from the project, stands to contribute about 10,000 extra jobs in the North. Ten thousand extra jobs is no small target. But the Labor Party guys opposite have announced today that they are going to oppose measures that we want to take to try and streamline this project and to stop the Greens from waging warfare in the courts against this job-creating development and other job-creating developments. These guys are opposing these measures. They are sacrificing the workers of North Queensland for the cheap and nasty Green vote. That is disgraceful for the Labor Party—but it is true to form.

The Labor Party's national president, Mr Butler, went on the record to say that he does not believe there is a place for coal in Australia. This was the guy who thought that coal should go. When the Leader of the Opposition was asked to respond to one of his frontbenchers, Mr Shorten said:

Are you asking me something should always be the case forever?

in terms of whether coal will continue to be mined in Australia. He said:

I'm not in the position to use a crystal ball …

You do not need to use a crystal ball. You just need to have look at the International Energy Agency report from May, which notes:

Growth in coal-fired generation since 2010 has been greater than that of all non-fossil sources combined, continuing a 20-year trend …

The IEA is a reputable agency. It is backed up by data from the US Energy Information Administration, from our own Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, from Japan's Institute of Energy Economics, as well as from respected private forecasters Wood Mackenzie and the Salva Report. Even gas producers and oil producers like BP and ExxonMobil would say that coal has a bright future. The Leader of the Opposition himself went down to Cessnock about a year ago and told the miners there that we were a mining nation! Yet they come into this place and say they are going to back the Greens and sacrifice the mineworkers of North Queensland for these cheap and nasty Green votes. Shame on them!

That is not all they are going to do to job-creating industries across Australia. They are going to bring in a 50 to 60 per cent renewable energy target.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

That is the policy that was voted on at your national conference. I wonder, Joel, which way you voted, mate! Which way did you vote? Did you cast your vote in favour of the greenies or in favour of the workers? It would have been with the greenies, mate, because you guys are all talk!

If you want to hear from reputable Labor people about this, let us go to former Labor senator John Black, who said that this will play out worse amongst traditional Labor voters in provincial areas where people tend to dig up coal—and I have to tell you: it will. I know, because I represent that kind of area. He said it would be viewed favourably by inner-city green professional people in secure, well-paid jobs—those who are living in the 'goat-cheese circle'. That is now the Labor demographic: the welfare system and the goat-cheese circle! You can stick to the goat-cheese circle, because we will be the ones representing the workers. We will be the ones representing the mineworkers. We will be the ones representing job creation in this country, while you guys block progress.

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

I want you talk about sugar just once!

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We can talk about sugar, Joel! We are working through free trade agreements and the TPP to get results for the sugar industry—and jobs there as well. I wish you guys would do something about jobs!

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

I am very happy to be contributing to this debate. It is a very important debate. It is really about which side of this chamber cares about jobs. We have a very strong record—a good legacy. When confronted by the global financial crisis we responded—in a way that those opposite would not have responded—to support and defend jobs. There is no doubt that without the response to the GFC by the former Labor government we would have seen up to 200,000 people lose their jobs. Indeed, that is always the case. When it comes to defending workers in this country, it is always Labor that does so. So it is not entirely surprising—it is not surprising at all—that we now have the highest number of unemployed in Australia since 1994. The last time we saw unemployment figures hit 800,000 was 21 years ago. We have an unemployment rate of 6.3 per cent, a very high unemployment rate.

What is also quite disturbing is that what was once the engine room and the powerhouse of our economy, Western Australia, has a unemployment rate higher than the national average. I think it would come as a surprise to many Western Australians they have an unemployment rate higher than the national unemployment rate. That is as a result of the government not having a plan to deliver jobs when there is clearly a transition taking place in our economy. There are significant changes occurring in our economy, not least of all in the mining sector, yet the government has failed to anticipate that change and partner with business and industry to ensure that the people who are soon to lose jobs in that sector will be able to find other opportunities in the labour market. I think that is the concern that workers have. Whether they are in the electorate of Dawson, in regional Queensland or in other parts of this magnificent country, there are people who are really quite concerned about their job prospects.

There are almost 300,000 young people who are unemployed, not earning or learning—almost 300,000 young people. In some areas of this country, we have a youth unemployment crisis. When in excess of 20 per cent of young Australians, more than one in five, are not earning or learning, I would say that was a crisis, because, if you are not in a position to find productive opportunities for young people, what chance do they have in life? What will it mean for their communities, for their families, when those young people are unable to find work?

This government needs to deploy better policies, it needs to engage with industry, it needs to have regional policies in place in areas of high unemployment, it needs to have some local, targeted areas deploying proper policies and it needs to invest in local employers to ensure we see a turnaround in some of those regions. But we see none of that from this government. We were promised a jobs and family budget this year, yet that budget's own forecast says that unemployment will rise to 6.5 per cent. It has already hit 6.3 per cent, but it is forecast to rise even further, and the primary cause of that increase in unemployment is the confidence-killing approach of this government.

Last year, a contractionary budget and rhetoric that was killing confidence—killing business confidence, killing consumer confidence—basically flatlined our economy. Wage growth in this country, wage growth amongst its 11.8 million workers, is at its lowest since figures was first collected. There is almost a wage recession. In some sectors of our economy, the CPI is running in excess of wage growth. That has not happened for more than 20 years. So we have a flat economy; we have very few job prospects and we have, in some parts of this country, a youth unemployment crisis. The government is failing on its watch. The Prime Minister is obsessed with one job, one job only, and that is his own job. And that is the problem. This government is focused on itself, it is divided, it is dysfunctional and it is letting the Australian people down.

Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance so that I have a chance to make the good constituents of Barton, and all Australians, understand the fallacy embedded in the statement put by the opposition.

The coalition have always stood up for jobs because we stand by the hardworking people of this country. We believe that, rather than going on welfare, people should work when they are capable of doing so. We believe in hope, opportunity and reward, which is why we were elected in 2013, after six years of Labor waste and sabotage of the country's economic and employment credentials.

The Australian people have had a gutful of the opposition's waste and carelessness. Labor took a wrecking ball to the solid foundations left behind by the Howard government, including a balance sheet with a surplus—a term that is foreign to the opposition. It only took six years of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government to get us into a financial mess that is costing taxpayers $1 billion a month to repay just the interest on a record debt, with a projected debt of $667 billion and accumulated deficits of $123 billion.

For just under two years, the coalition has consistently worked hard to clean up this mess so that current and future generations of Australians can continue to enjoy our excellent living standards and world-class healthcare system and to contribute to our great country.

Since September 2013, 330,000 jobs have been created and Australian jobs have grown at a rate that outpaces the US, the UK, Canada and every other G7 nation. Job creation over the last year is more than four times the level of job creation in Labor's last year in office. Rather than acknowledging the much-needed work required to fix the mess it created and then shifted elsewhere, the ALP is in complete denial about its failed policies, including school halls, which has become an international policy study of what not to do; the disastrous pink batts scheme that killed people; the world's biggest carbon tax; a huge mining tax; and the billions of taxpayers' dollars wasted on securing our borders against illegal maritime arrivals which created chaos in the seas and led to the lives of men, women and children being lost. I could go on, but I would rather focus on the positive things the current government is doing to protect and invest in jobs.

Since just the beginning of this year, 163,000 new jobs have been created, and the labour market has continued to perform strongly in the first seven months, after a strong 2014. We can expect this to grow even more, as the coalition completed a trifecta of wonderful free trade agreements with China, Korea and Japan that will see a surge in trade and commodity exports. Of course, the ALP would rather insist this was a negative thing, even though they tried—and failed miserably—to achieve this when they were in government.

I digress. A recent report commissioned by the government estimates that the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will, when combined with trade deals with Japan and Korea, create an average of almost 9,000 jobs per year and create 178,000 jobs by the time the agreements come into full force in 2035.

Asia is in a phase of unprecedented growth, and the coalition has been able to see this as something for all Australians to partake in so that those who take the risk of creating opportunities are rewarded. Unlike the opposition, the government is encouraging Australians to take on these unique opportunities, which will generate jobs and harness ongoing prospects of doing more business with our regional partners. So it is truly disappointing to see the ALP and unions engage in a xenophobic campaign designed to create false alarm.

In addition, the government has released a historical Jobs and Small Business package in this year's budget, which will see incentives for businesses to reinvest and employ workers. Our measures include a 1.5 per cent cut for small companies, immediate asset deductions for $20,000 or less, measures in place for organisations to hire job seekers, and red tape reduction. For the 13,000-plus small businesses in Barton, this is a most welcome relief to help them stimulate growth and employ locals. These are the kinds of things that protect and invest in jobs. What are the solutions of the opposition? Tax and more tax? Punish entrepreneurs who take a risk, encourage multinationals to go abroad and spend taxpayer dollars frivolously on cheques to dead people?

Under this government, Australia is open for business, and part of that is removing uncertainty for investors. Trade means more jobs. More trade means more jobs. Freer trade means more jobs. The actions of the coalition will result in literally hundreds of millions of dollars of extra benefit to businesses across Australia—businesses which employ Australians. That is how the government is protecting and investing in jobs.

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

Order! The discussion has concluded.