Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry, representing the Minister for Jobs and Innovation. Will the minister update the House on how the coalition government's policy settings have resulted in the longest consecutive period of jobs growth in Australia's history and given businesses the confidence they need to grow? How does this compare to alternative approaches?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Brisbane for his question. Today is a really significant day in the economy of Australia, because today the labour force statistics indicate that we've had 16 consecutive months of growth in net terms in jobs in Australia—the longest consecutive period of jobs growth since those statistics have been kept. It is a real red-letter day for the economy. That is the sort of issue that the Australian public is interested in.

The first responsibility of any government is to take care of the economy. The member for Brisbane must be particularly pleased, because Queensland has accounted for a quarter of the 403,000 new jobs that have been created in the last 12 months—really important for the Queensland economy. So, once again, the statistics are proving that the Abbott and Turnbull governments' policies over the last four years are having exactly the impact that we wanted to drive in Australia: more jobs, more investment, more growth in the economy, records being broken like today's and records like last year's, with 403,000 new jobs—the highest number in history. The levers of policy that we've been pulling on this side of the House are having exactly the impact that you would expect from a coalition government. We are the true inheritors of the Howard-Costello legacy of good economic management.

Mr Pasin interjecting—

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

The members for Wakefield and Barker are warned.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was a time when the Labor Party wanted to have economic credibility—during the Hawke-Keating period, when they wanted to put behind them the hideousness of the Whitlam era. Well, they have certainly turned their back on that. They've taken a sharp left turn. And there is absolutely no doubt in the minds of the public in Australia that if they want a political party, a coalition like the Liberal and National parties, to look after the economy, the only way of doing so is to vote for the Liberal and National parties at elections.

Defence industry is doing its part. Because of the Turnbull government's commitment to the biggest build-up of our military capability in our peacetime history, we are seeing new jobs being created right across the country, not just with Raytheon and BAE in Bennelong, where there were 50 jobs created in recent times, but with companies like: Kinexus—27 new jobs in Mawson Lakes; Saab—going from 350 to 650 jobs in South Australia; Lockheed Martin—taking on 200 more people in South Australia; Boeing—165 more people as part of the Wedgetail project, mostly in Brisbane; Northrop Grumman—increasing its workforce to 1,000 in Western Sydney; and, in shipbuilding, Henderson—400 new jobs associated with the offshore patrol vessels, largely in the member for Canning's electorate. So everywhere in Australia, we are seeing this good news being rolled out. (Time expired)