Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When he came to the prime ministership, the now Prime Minister said that it was clear that the government was not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need. It appears nothing has changed, with new worst-ever records being set by this government. Total gross debt is at a record nearly half a trillion dollars. The coalition has added over half of that to the debt. Now we have net debt at $317.4 billion and gross borrowings in May were at $7.5 billion—that is $75.3 billion for the year to date; that is an extra $6.8 billion every month. The number of full-time jobs fell in April to 67.99 per cent, dropping below the 68 per cent level. Of course, unemployment is especially high in Western Australia. The best measure for real paid work—that is, hours worked per adult per month—dropped in April to 83.8 per cent, the lowest since February 1994. Unemployment is at record highs at the moment and we are seeing that especially in WA, and of course we have seen that labour force numbers have hit a high of 8.7 per cent. We have seen a 13.5 per cent drop in housing approvals, and that is on top of last year and 13.7 per cent on top of 2015. Meanwhile, housing is getting more and more expensive and we are doing nothing to look after those trying to get into their first home.