Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sadly, this government is leaving Australians behind. Today, we saw unemployment figures at 7.1 per cent, with nearly 200,000 jobs going in the month of May. But we know, sadly, that this doesn't reflect the true state of the economy. We know that in fact it is much, much worse, with underemployment and the casualisation of the workforce on the rise in this country, and hundreds of thousands of Australians dropping out of the job market altogether.

Today, on the day when we see how unemployment, underemployment and casualisation of the workforce are on the rise, we find out that this Prime Minister cannot wait to get rid of the JobKeeper supplement. As soon as the Eden-Monaro by-election is done, this Prime Minister will reveal his plan to get rid of the JobKeeper supplement. Meanwhile, people in my electorate, in some of the hardest-hit suburbs—Elwood, St Kilda and Port Melbourne—and people working in retail, hospitality, tourism, arts and entertainment have been left behind by this government. Those opposite like to laugh at people losing their jobs, but we will stand up for the people this government is leaving behind.

What's their answer? What's their plan? The home renovation program, where 7,000 people are going to get a renovation on their home. I've worked it out: on average that's about 47 people per electorate. That means that 99,953 people are going to miss out. But that's their plan. They have no plan; this government is leaving people behind as the unemployment figures rise in this country.