Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I made the point in question time yesterday, and I am going to make it again today, that both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party have regrettably both given up on job creation in the Glenorchy City Council area, which is about half of the Denison electorate. I made the point yesterday that the decision by the federal government, supported by the Labor Party, not to go ahead with the injection of $16 million of economic stimulus—a need clearly identified by the then Liberal-National coalition opposition before the last federal election. The decision to not go ahead with that injection is giving up on jobs growth in that city, and that is very regrettable.

But that is but one piece of evidence. I will tender three more pieces of evidence here today in this place to reinforce the point that both Labor and Liberal have given up on job growth in Glenorchy City. Another example I would like to give is the cuts to CSIRO. The Denison electorate is a very important base for the CSIRO, both in Tasmania and nationally. But the previous Labor government reduced the funding such that 139 jobs were cut from the CSIRO in Tasmania, and the current conservative federal government has made further cuts to CSIRO funding, which has cut another 59 jobs from the facilities in Tasmania.

Another piece of evidence are cuts to the tertiary sector. Denison is a university electorate. It is the home to the main campus of the University of Tasmania, which is a very important academic institution. It is also a very important social and economic driver in the state and is very important to the Denison electorate. But the previous Labor governments cut some $4 billion from university funding over a period of years and, if this federal government gets its way, another $5 billion will be cut from universities, making a total of $9 billion of cuts from the tertiary sector. We are already chronically underfunded in that sector relative to so many other countries in the world and by OECD standards, and the prospect that $9 billion would be cut is just unforgivable. It is further evidence that, despite all the rhetoric and all the talk, both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party have, in reality, given up on jobs growth in the Denison electorate.

Another piece of evidence I would like to tender goes to the fact that Denison has a marvellous manufacturing industry, entirely suitable to contribute to defence work. In fact, Incat alone makes the world's best high-technology, high-speed wave-piercing catamarans—vessels that have already been used from time to time by the Royal Australian Navy and the US Navy. Despite all of the talk of making Prince of Wales Bay in the Denison electorate a Defence precinct, the reality is that next to no work has gone to that so-called Defence precinct. The previous Labor government was there for six years and it only started to talk about Defence work in Denison in the last 12 months, really as some sort of theatrical political stunt to boost the Labor candidate at the time. In fact, it was so theatrical they had the Labor candidate before the 2013 election leading delegations of politicians up to Canberra to try to drum up Defence work. But, when you look at the track record of those six years of Labor, virtually no Defence work went to the Denison electorate. In the current environment, the current government is tripping over itself to send Defence work to South Australia, largely for political considerations. My fear is it is about to do the same with Western Australia—again for political considerations—when, by any reasonable measure, on its merit the Denison electorate and the Prince of Wales Bay Defence precinct in particular should be getting a big chunk of Defence work, including boatbuilding work.

So I make the point again: there is a lot said about jobs, particularly around election time. I suppose we are now only 12 months from an election, and a lot more will be said about jobs. But, when you look at the track record of the previous Labor governments and the current Liberal-National government, the reality is that there has been precious little investment in the Denison electorate. There has been precious little investment in things that would create jobs. So much of the talk to this point in time has been rhetoric when what we really need is genuine talk and a long-term, sustained plan.