Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the new Prime Minister announced his pitch for the Liberal leadership, he said: 'The only way we can ensure we remain a First World society is if we have economic leadership and strong business confidence.' In Western Australia, we do not just need a new salesman; we need new policies. Today's labour force figures show that WA's high unemployment rate is not going anywhere, persisting at 6.1 per cent, having jumped from 4.6 per cent in September 2013. There are 23,000 more people unemployed in Western Australia than there were at the last election, and most Western Australians believe that those figures are underreporting the economic downturn, with the reality being masked by many working through redundancy payments. Let us hope Mr Turnbull's economic work is better than his work with the National Broadband Network, which has doubled in price and halved in quality. WA needs a jobs plan. We need to get our renewable energy industry back on track. We lost 1,000 jobs through the previous PM's policies. We need to restore WA's ability to compete for the offshore patrol vessels and even submarines. So far, the PM's only proposal has been to cut baristas' wages on Sundays—that is not a job plan. Prime Minister, we need more. We have brought home the bacon for the last decade. We need your focus now.