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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Rankin proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The failure of the Government to provide adequate economic support to industries and regions which are still being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I call upon all of those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are a million Australians still on the JobKeeper program, and this is a fact that the government do not want to concede. They tell us all about those who are no longer on JobKeeper but they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge that, for a million Australians who face the government's JobKeeper cuts at the end of this month, these will be a very uncertain couple of weeks.

But instead of treating the million Australians on JobKeeper and all those at risk of losing their job as a human problem to be avoided, those opposite, as always, treat them as a political problem to be managed. We know this because the Treasurer told his party room yesterday, he told the politicians in the Liberal and Nationals party room, that they had to brace for a couple of difficult months because of the withdrawal of JobKeeper—because of the Treasurer's cuts to JobKeeper, the politicians on that side opposite have to brace for a couple of difficult months! Doesn't that just say everything about the government's approach to managing these issues politically, rather than understanding that joblessness, particularly that caused by cuts to JobKeeper, is a human problem which must be avoided?

What those opposite don't understand is that the future of JobKeeper, the future of those million Australians, is in the government's hands. So any job losses which flow from cuts to JobKeeper at the end of this month and in the subsequent months will be on their heads. Why they don't understand that is because the Treasurer cannot understand, from the leafy suburbs that he occupies, what life looks like and what life feels like for so many Australians who aren't enjoying the economic recovery that he congratulates himself for. He is so lost in self-congratulation and in taking credit for what the Australian people have achieved together by doing the right thing by each other during this pandemic—doing the right thing so that we can recover and so we can come out of this recession, the deepest most damaging recession in almost a century. He is so busy taking credit for that that he can't understand that some people are still doing it really tough. He is the poster child for a government with a big head and a very cold heart. We know that because no government which truly understood what is happening in the suburbs and towns of this country would be cutting JobKeeper at the end of this month.

Remember—and we remember—that those opposite said one of the reasons why they can cut JobKeeper at the end of this month is that they will have four million vaccinations out of the way. As The Shovel and others have pointed out on social media, they're approximately four million short of that four million target when it comes to vaccinations! So they are very quick to cut support out of the economy but very slow to deliver all of those vaccinations that they promised.

The Treasurer was at the BCA last night, and we support the fact he addressed the BCA last night. He talked about how there was a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to this crisis. For those million Australians, that light at the end of the tunnel is a locomotive and it's coming at them very fast—the weekend after next!—where all of those people at risk of losing their jobs don't know what the future holds.

The reality is that if you cut JobKeeper in these uncertain times, you cut jobs. It's as simple as that. The Reserve Bank has warned, the OECD has warned and others have said a really big risk right now is declaring mission accomplished over this recession too soon and pulling the rug out from under small businesses too soon, before they have recovered sufficiently to hold onto their staff. It is true that the economy is recovering. To some extent that is inevitable, given the trough that we were in last year. With the reopening of state economies and all of the good work that Australians have done, as I said, there is a recovery from this recession. Every time there's a pleasing development in the economy, we have all welcomed it. We've said that's a good thing. At the same time as we've acknowledged the pleasing parts about this recovery, we've said that those opposite need to acknowledge the difficult parts as well. Those businesses impacted by distancing, those businesses impacted by the closure of the international border and all of the people that they employ are up for a very difficult period ahead. There's a lot of uncertainty in the economy still as we come out of this recession.

The labour market is in nowhere near good enough condition for those opposite to be patting themselves on the back. That's another point made by the Reserve Bank and others. We are nowhere near full employment; we have serious issues with wages; we have two million Australians who are either unemployed or can't find enough hours to support their loved ones. There's a million on JobKeeper, as I said, and millions more are dealing with stagnant wages, which have been a defining feature of the economy under those opposite, even before anyone had heard of coronavirus.

It remains to be seen how many jobs will be lost. This week, a number of my colleagues, in the context of their own communities, have asked: how many of the thousands of people being supported by JobKeeper in our electorates, in our communities, does the government expect will lose their jobs when the Treasurer and the Prime Minister cut JobKeeper at the end of the month? The Treasurer, of course, talks about those who are no longer on JobKeeper. That's one thing. But he cannot recognise the people who are still on it and still need that help. They talk about graduation day as if people who are losing their jobs or finding another job deserve a little hat to throw in the air at the end of the ceremony. Unfortunately, when it comes to the end of this month, too many Australians will graduate into joblessness and onto the JobSeeker payment because of the actions taken by those opposite.

We don't know how many that will be. The Treasury expects 100,000 people will hit the wall at the end of March and in the subsequent months. The Commonwealth Bank says it will be 110,000. One of Australia's most respected labour market economists said it could be anywhere up to 250,000. We hope that that's not the case. We genuinely hope we see nothing like that. But the risk is there, and those opposite are not doing anything to avoid that risk.

There is absolutely nothing which resembles a jobs plan to replace JobKeeper. As the member for Maribyrnong said on the TV and as a number of my colleagues have said in recent days, the tax cuts are no good to you if you don't have a job. JobMaker is no good if you are over 35; it deliberately excludes a million people from that program. The half-price airfares are nowhere near enough to save these jobs which are at risk. What we say to the Prime Minister is: dressing up as a pilot with a little pilot's hat and waving around a fake airline ticket is no substitute for the jobs plan and the JobKeeper extension that we need to make sure that people aren't thrown onto the scrap heap because of the decisions taken by those opposite. None of us have said that JobKeeper needs to be a permanent feature in the budget. We all recognise that, at some point, as JobKeeper tapers and as it's targeted, it will trail away. We've all said that, and it will be a good thing if the economy doesn't need JobKeeper anymore, but the truth is that it does. We understand that on this side, even if those opposite do not. The economy still needs JobKeeper. It needs to be targeted and responsible and temporary, but many are not yet ready to shed JobKeeper because that will mean shedding jobs.

That little ticket, which the Prime Minister waved around at that comical press conference that he had in the Qantas hangar with the little hat on, playing pilot and all the rest of it, is a ticket for joblessness for too many Australians. I'm distracted because of the references to Flying High, which I'm trying to avoid, in comments behind me! To make things worse, in the Senate this week—we are debating this at the moment—instead of a jobs plan, instead of something reasonable and responsible on JobKeeper, what have we got instead from those opposite? We've got cuts to wages, cuts to JobKeeper, cuts to super and some of the diabolical plans that the member for Dunkley asked about in question time today. This is the government's agenda. At the same time as they say that there's no blank cheque to support workers in our economy, we've got a budget which is absolutely riddled with rorts, top to bottom: dodgy deals for mates; sports rorts; a billion dollars in advertising; market research; the debacle which is the subs; taxpayer funded executive bonuses—the list goes on and on. These are the government's priorities: cuts to JobKeeper, cuts to wages, cuts to super and a budget riddled with rorts.

It's for us to decide what kind of future we have as we emerge from the deepest, most damaging recession in almost 100 years. What will determine the kind of recovery we have is the kinds of jobs that we create, and every single one of us on this side of the House want to see secure, well-paid jobs with fair conditions created as we come out of this recession. We don't want to see the defining features of the pre-COVID economy re-emerge with the weak wages and weak investment and all the rest of it. We will continue to be on the side of those workers and small businesses who need help for a little longer.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We, as a government, have given unprecedented support to our economy over the last 12 months. These were unchartered waters. No-one really knew what the pandemic was going to do to the global economy. No-one knew what it was going to do to the local economy. We have given unprecedented assistance to businesses and employees across our country, and it has worked. That $250 billion has worked. Firstly, on the health front—and I will agree with the member for Rankin on this—we need to thank the Australian people for what they've done with hand hygiene, social distancing et cetera. On the health front, we have done very well during the pandemic. We just need to look at comparative figures from other countries to see how well we've done.

The member for Rankin prefaced the views of the RBA and a few other people. Economically, we are coming out of this COVID-led recession faster than they predicted. Business confidence, consumer confidence and the growth in our economy, as we saw in the December quarter figures that came out, are fast surpassing what even the RBA and most economists were predicting. The biggest issue we have in a lot of regions—I'm hearing about this anecdotally, and it is shown in figures as well—is staff shortages. The shortage is not only in the agriculture sector; it's across the whole gamut—trades, retail and hospitality. The biggest issue that business has raised with me is that they cannot find enough staff. That's well documented around many regions in our economy.

I know the member for Rankin focused on one thing, JobKeeper. I will speak about JobKeeper, but I'll also be speaking about a lot of ongoing support that isn't going anywhere. That support is going to be locked in, especially for areas and industries that still aren't operating as they can and should, like airlines and other related areas. JobKeeper was initially brought in for six months. At the start, we didn't know how this was going to play out. We brought JobKeeper in because we wanted the employee to keep a relationship with their employer. We brought it in for six months; it was going to end last September. Obviously, back then we weren't ready. So what did we, as a government, do? We extended it. Now, given how well we have grown out of this, given what the economic statistics have shown about our growth and confidence, and given the staff shortages that everyone tells us they have, we think that, with other ongoing support, the economy can cope with this.

One of the major things we are doing as a further boost to this support is cutting income tax. People talk about there being no wage increases. An income tax cut is a wage increase. That's flowing through, and there'll be more of that to come. In the past, we have also brought in small-business tax cuts. We realise that the private sector is the major job creator in this country. Just about everything we do, including what we announced in the budget last year and a lot of the other assistance measures we do, is about giving private businesses the confidence to invest in their business, their staff and their capital equipment. That's been shown, as I said, in consumer and business confidence and the growth that we have seen in our economy. I'm going to list a few of these, beginning with the JobMaker Hiring Credit scheme, which we announced in the budget last year. This was about what we saw and what we all worried about when went into the COVID-led recession. In past recessions, the people who suffered the most were our youth. The youth unemployment rate was the slowest to recover, because young people hadn't been trained or they didn't have a job to build a skill level through a really important stage in their life. So we brought in the JobMaker hiring credit, which gave $200 a week to employers who hire anyone between 18 and 30. That has been a major success.

The other thing that I mention nearly every time I get up here is the instant asset write-off, which we did a few years ago but we have now put on steroids. I think it's one of the best policies that we've ever initiated. This is where businesses can go away and make a capital purchase for their business. What does that do? It's a great initiative that encourages people to invest in their business. A lot of small businesses in my region love that policy. They keep talking about it. In the budget last year, we put it on steroids and lifted the amount you could buy and write off. We did that because we want people to keep their jobs. We want business to invest in their capital and their staff, and that has worked.

Another thing in the budget last year—the money is still flowing for this—was the $2 billion investment in R&D. What we've seen in this country, which the global pandemic showed us, is that we have to be as self-reliant as we can be, and R&D is a very important part of that. We brought in a $1.3 billion manufacturing plan, too, across six areas: defence, space, medicine, food, resources, technology and recycling and clean energy. Again, we're investing in this at a really important time, to make sure that people's jobs are as secure and safe as we can make them.

There's the apprenticeship scheme. What a great scheme this is. This filled up more quickly than we thought. Again, this is a subsidy; we will subsidise an apprentice's wage up to $7,000 a quarter. A hundred thousand places filled up like that! And we announced the extension of that just a number of weeks ago. So there isn't a vacuum going on here. Things are happening with JobKeeper and things are happening in other areas. There isn't a vacuum, in the sense that there's a lot of ongoing support happening in a lot of other regions to support jobs growth—for example, the apprenticeship scheme. It's a wonderful scheme. I saw the minister stand up earlier in question time. There's the HomeBuilder scheme. Again, builders were facing very uncertain times—as were all the apprenticeships and jobs around that—and the HomeBuilder scheme has been very important to that.

Then there are the infrastructure programs. Whether it be BBRF, whether it be skills packages, whether it be roads projects—these are happening across my region; they're happening across all regions throughout this country. With our local governments and local community organisations and some of the state governments, we're stimulating economic activity.

What has this all done? This hasn't happened by accident. I, too, thank the Australian people for what we've done on the health front—for what we did with hand hygiene, social distancing and everything else. We are seeing record consumer confidence. We are seeing great business confidence. In the Australian economy, we are seeing one of the highest levels of growth in the world right now—thank you to the Australian businesses who are doing this—because of the stimulus packages and the things that we're putting out there to encourage them to do that.

We aren't out of the woods yet, though. I understand that. There are certain areas and sectors that are still under threat. As mentioned earlier, a big one is, obviously, international travel. We are looking forward to the vaccine rollout not just in Australia but across the globe because, once that rolls out and there are enough critical numbers on that, we'll be able to travel and open up international borders.

Again, there's no vacuum here. There is ongoing assistance being provided. Just in the last week or so there was a further $1.2 billion for our aviation sector and the tourism sector related to that. Again, this was targeted at sections of our economy and sections of our country that are missing out, that were more focused and targeted towards international tourists. Again, that was announced just last week.

We had a fund at the height of COVID that we were using to target areas that were highly affected. I've got a list here. I won't read them all out because I'll run out of time. But, to give you some idea, there was RANS, which you'll be aware of, Deputy Speaker—the Regional Airline Network Support. Just last week we extended that program. What is that program? That's for the airlines deeply affected, especially in regional Australia. We knew we needed to keep our regional airlines operating. There were frontline workers and critical staff who had to be flown in to regional areas all around the country, and the airlines simply didn't have enough capability or capacity or demand to keep up. So the Regional Airline Network Support was a really important thing across regional Australia. Just last week that got extended, and that was really important. There was additional funding for the Export Market Development Grant Scheme, for aquariums, for shows and ag fields—we all remember that none of our field shows were held last year, so there was targeted assistance given to them as well. Our travel agents are doing it tough. Obviously they can't take international bookings. Just this week we announced a package to help them out. So there's a lot going on. We've done well so far but we do have more to do.

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The problem that Australia is facing today, the biggest problem that we are facing today, is that we have a prime minister who sees every economic challenge as a marketing problem, and every human problem as a political problem. That is not good enough. We've got a prime minister who is always there for the photo op, always there for the big announcement, but, whenever responsibility needs to be taken for anything, this guy vanishes; he is nowhere to be seen. It's always somebody else's responsibility. Maybe he's blaming his staff, maybe he's blaming the states, but it's never this Prime Minister's responsibility.

And it's not as if we don't have some challenges, because we most certainly do. The minister has just said we're in uncharted waters. Well, yes, indeed we are. We are in uncharted waters and, unfortunately, we've got the crew from Gilligan's Island running the boat. This is a bloke who has not got a clue about what we're going to do with the 1.5 million Australians who are either out of work or are looking for work—and that number is going to be added to by over 100,000 in a few weeks time.

What is the plan? What is the idea? What is this government's great big plan to deal with that challenge, with that human challenge? 'We're going to cut your wages. We're going to cut your superannuation. We're going to cut your income support.' And we've heard this falsity that's being peddled that there are plenty of jobs out there but people won't take them. What is the ratio of people seeking a job to jobs? There are between 10 and 15 people looking for a job for every job vacancy in this country—and somehow that mob over there want to blame the people who can't find a job. Their great big plan is a letter-writing campaign. 'I know the way we're going to fix this. We'll cut your income support and make you write 20 letters every month to an employer who hasn't got a job available or has a job you don't have the skills to fill.' Their great big plan for the economic challenge is a letter-writing campaign. These guys are a joke.

Business investment is coming back, the minister just told us. Business is confident and investment's coming back. Memo to the minister: business investment is at a 25-year low. Businesses have worked you lot out. You haven't got a plan. You haven't got a clue what to do. Once the press release is done and the cameras have vanished, you guys are clueless. You're onto the next thing—cut superannuation, cut income support, roll back the recommendations of the royal commission. If there were ever a time that we should be learning from the lessons of the past and ensuring that our banks and our finance companies are acting responsibly, it is right now, when we're trying to drag ourselves out of an economic recession. But your big plan is to roll back the very first recommendation of the Hayne royal commission. It's not like it was a big obligation: banks must lend responsibly. But somehow your answer to the economic recession, your answer to the lowest level of business investment in over 45 years, is easy credit, cheap credit and relaxing lending standards. We do not need a crystal ball to work out what will happen here. You need a history book. Look at what happened over the last 10 years, when relaxed lending standards led to reckless lending, with farmers and businesses losing their businesses, their houses and their properties. This is their big plan for the future of the economy.

They went to the last election saying they had a better deal for mum-and-dad investors—that they were going to stand up for the interests of mum-and-dad investors. Remember that? There wouldn't be a member in this place who didn't receive an email from this mob, saying that they were going to protect the interests of mum-and-dad investors. But this week we have a bill before the Senate which gives permission to directors to pull the wool over the eyes of mum-and-dad investors. They don't have to tell their mum-and-dad investors the material effects of what's going on inside the businesses that they are running. This mob pretend they're running the economy in the interests of business, but they haven't got a clue. They haven't got a clue and they've dropped the interests of small investors like a hot, mouldy potato.

So let's not have any of this nonsense. This is a Prime Minister who is always there to make the big announcement, but, when you look behind it, there's a cardboard cut-out; there's nothing there. There is no plan for the future, and it's ordinary Australians who are suffering as a result. There are 1.5 million Australians out of work or looking for more work, and this mob haven't got a clue about what to do with them.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was just fantastic, wasn't it! 'The member for Whitlam hasn't got a clue' was his key message. Isn't it fascinating—when the Labor Party decide to bring an MPI to this chamber, they put forward speakers that are clearly economically illiterate. You would've thought that, as the member for Whitlam had five minutes, he would've actually mentioned one point relating to the Australian economy. Instead, it was frothing at the mouth—the usual rant that comes from not just the member for Whitlam but indeed most of those on the other side when they actually have to talk about economics.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Tell us about economics,' they call. Well, let me tell you a little bit about the Australian economy. The Australian economy is one of the few in the world to have reaffirmed its AAA credit rating. The Australian economy has now seen the unemployment rate drop to 6.4 per cent. For the Australian economy, the last quarterly results showed a growth rate of 3.1 per cent. The Australian economy sees consumer confidence and business confidence up. Our economy is back to recovery. And the member for Whitlam is leaving the chamber to look up an economics textbook! God bless you, my peer.

Mr Stephen Jones interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Whitlam will leave the chamber quietly if he's going.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So here's the thing: the Labor Party will rant and they will froth, but the one thing they cannot produce is one skerrick of evidence to suggest that the coalition government has not done a competent job in managing the greatest threat to our economy since the Great Depression. That is why, when you look at the scoreboard, you see those economic outcomes.

From the very beginning, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the team have made it clear that our economic response to this dual crisis of health and the economy is based on three principles: our response will be targeted, it will be temporary and it will be commensurate. The good thing about what you have with a coalition government is the consistency of our approach. Those three principles have driven the coalition government's response to COVID-19, and they continue to drive it.

That is why, indeed, unlike those opposite, we celebrate companies graduating from JobKeeper. The opposition don't. The shadow Treasurer stood here, putting forward his case for this MPI, criticising businesses for graduating from JobKeeper. Despicable! A despicable presentation! What it goes to is the problem with the Labor Party, which is inherently anti the private sector. Clearly, they don't want businesses to graduate; they want businesses to continue to rely on the taxpayer. But taxpayer money is not the plaything of the Labor Party. Taxpayer money is not the plaything of government. It might be the way that Labor heavies run the union movement, but it is not the way responsible governments manage the books—the money of the taxpayers.

This is why, where there are some targeted supports required, this government continues to step up. It is why last week we saw over $1 billion allocated to aviation and tourism, with half-price airfares, ensuring that people in that sector—who will indeed continue to feel the pain—get that targeted, temporary, proportionate response, that support, because that's the only way that we can ensure that the Australian economy gets back and we can continue our recovery.

We know, as do those opposite, despite their complaints today, that the Australian people and Australian businesses are doing a wonderful job, and this government is supporting them. Over 13 per cent of GDP is the value of the support from the Australian government. As to my state of Queensland, if you look at the Queensland Labor government, their support comes in at two per cent of their GSP. Let me say that again for those opposite, who don't understand maths all that well: 13 per cent is higher than two per cent—

Opposition members interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left!

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So: the Commonwealth government's support package is 13 per cent of our GDP; the Queensland state government's is a measly two per cent. And the Labor Party have the hide to criticise the Liberal-National government for their contribution! What a joke! (Time expired)

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Some 172,000 Queensland workers are expected to lose JobKeeper at the end of this month. That's $83 million in support that's going to be ripped away from the Queensland economy. So yesterday in question time I asked on behalf of my workers in Lilley—5,500 of whom are still reliant on JobKeeper, amounting to $3 million in support—what would happen to them when JobKeeper was ripped away. The Treasurer's answer was that the market would look after them now. Like a nurturing mother, the market was going to sweep in and look after us and I shouldn't worry my pretty little head about it, because it would all be sorted out. Can't understand maths—

Mr Ted O'Brien interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fairfax will leave the chamber quietly.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

See you later! 'Leave it to the menfolk. It's all under control. Don't worry your pretty little head about it.' But when they say 'leave it to the market', do you know what they actually mean?

Ms Bell interjecting—

Yes, I'll take that interjection. The member for Moncrieff said, 'Shame on the member for Dunkley for her question,' and then the Prime Minister agreed with the member for Dunkley. So learn your lesson. Honestly!

When the Treasurer answered yesterday that the market would look after our workers, it was code for 'they're going to get the sack'. That was what the code was. When the Treasurer said the market would look after them, he meant, 'You'll probably get the sack, but I'm not going to be honest enough to tell you that directly.' The reason we know that is that yesterday, on the same day, locally on Facebook on the north side of Brisbane, an ad was posted by Services Australia. The ad said, 'JobKeeper is ending, but we can help you sign up for JobSeeker.' How supportive! There's that nurturing support coming from the government: 'You're off to JobSeeker.' It isn't good enough! How dare you mutter and shrug your shoulders and scoff and talk to yourself—with all your friends—about how disgraceful it is for us to hold you to account? The job of opposition is actually to hold you to account. I'm sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable that you're receiving a little bit of scrutiny for all of the incompetence that has been going on in your government, but that is our job and that is what Australians want us to do, and I'm very pleased to be back in this place to do it.

I think, after seven years, the LNP has lost sight of what is basic, core bread-and-butter business for a government, which is to make sure that their people, the people who elect them to office, have a roof over their heads and food on the table and can feed their kids at the end of the day. That is what this plan—ripping away JobKeeper before the vaccine rollout is completed—fails to do. It fails to do the very core business that they were entrusted to complete. It's an absolute outrage that they sit there and do not acknowledge that that is what their plan does. The Treasurer, in fact, seems to expect some kind of gratitude from the rest of us who have been elected to represent our people that he's leaving it to the market to look after.

Speaking of the Treasurer, I've contacted the Treasurer requesting a meeting to discuss how this government is going to better support north-side jobs and I'm still waiting for a response. I suspect I may wait forever. I particularly want to speak to the Treasurer about our aviation industry, because I represent 6,600 aviation workers on the north side of Lilley, mostly based at Brisbane Airport. Their livelihoods have been decimated by this government's failure to provide them with the specific, targeted support spoken of by the speaker before me for aviation workers. I wrote to the PM and the Deputy PM asking for specific support for aviation workers and their families back in March 2020. I met with the DPM about it. Their response was that they've already done enough. Let's reflect on what 'enough' looks like on the ground. In May 5,500 dnata workers were told that they were ineligible for JobKeeper because they were employed by a foreign owned company, despite many of them working for 20 years in the same job on the same shift with nothing changing except the name at the top of the masthead and on a letterhead somewhere far from their workplace. Not long after that, Virgin collapsed, putting 10,000 direct jobs and 6,000 indirect jobs at risk. At the start of August, Virgin confirmed that it would cut 3,000 jobs, one-third of its workforce, in order to stay afloat. Later in August, Qantas announced that it was outsourcing 2,500 baggage handlers. Let's take a moment to recognise that: Qantas no longer has baggage handlers in Australia. They've outsourced those jobs, taking secure, permanent, good employment away from Australian workers to create new insecure casual jobs to save money.

On the back of this devastation in my community, you'll have to excuse me for not accepting the Treasurer's response: 'The free market is going to take care of north-side workers when JobKeeper is axed in 11 days.' They've racked up over a trillion dollars in debt but can't spare $3 million to keep north-side workers afloat. (Time expired)

Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Rankin. This is a great opportunity to talk about what the government has done when faced with these challenges that have been presented to us by COVID. Certainly, the JobKeeper program has been put in place to assist and help in conjunction with JobSeeker—the greatest stimulus and greatest support package this nation has ever seen. JobKeeper was always—always—going to be temporary. As previous speakers have said, it was put in place initially for six months. When we realised that the crisis was not going to abate within the six months, it was extended to 12 months. But, at some stage, we have to wean the nation off JobKeeper and off the JobSeeker supplements that are associated with our Newstart allowances. That's what we're trying to do in the very best way and in a way that keeps everybody's interests to the fore.

As previous speakers have said, there is this debate being put forward by the Labor Party that somehow or other we have vacated the situation. There's some idea that we don't know how to assist and how to stimulate the economy. These are the figures that have been put forward in the last two weeks by the Treasurer about the way that the economy is coming back: a 3.2 per cent increase in the economy bouncing back from where it was, and, on the previous indicators as well, it was 3.1 per cent bouncing back before that. We are finding that the economy is on its way back and, yes, it's coming back from substantial lows, but we are doing so much better than nearly every country that we compare ourselves to.

The Labor Party would just like to compare us with the fairies. They come up with their own figures about how they would like to see the economy. That's fine for them, but you've got to have a dance with reality every now and again, and, when you are faced with reality, you can see that Australia is in a responsible and quite positive position. Yes, we've got a lot more to do, but the reality also is that these jobs that are out there at the moment—certainly in hospitality—are real jobs. You've only got to go onto seek.com to see how many positions of chef are available at the moment or how many positions of restaurant manager are available at the moment. So we're not talking about being a farmhand or a fruit picker. We're not talking about working in abattoirs. We're talking about jobs in hospitality. We're talking about jobs in the trades. So, all of a sudden, with these jobs that have incredible esteem, for some reason in Australia we are struggling to fill these positions.

This is not something that we are making up; just go on to your iPads, go to seek.com, and have a look at how many jobs are out there that as yet are unfilled week on week on week. So we have to balance that up as we keep trying to assist and help and support people without work. We have to keep balancing up the concept that there are so many jobs out there in Australia right now that are not being picked up by the people who are currently receiving the benefits. It seems to be only the coalition that wants to talk about this balance that we have to achieve. There are the ideas associated with the support packages that we have been putting in place, like the HomeBuilder program. In my electorate—and this is consistent with most electorates now—builders have got themselves booked out for 2021. If you're building in the domestic market, the chances are you're now trying to book in houses for 2022. It's been a stunning success. Also, on top of that is the tax assistance we've been giving businesses. Being able to take the instant asset write-off to, effectively, as much as you can afford has given businesses the greatest incentive of all to reinvest in themselves. When businesses reinvest in themselves, what they do is put additional staff on and they keep driving their business to a higher level.

Again, this MPI that has been put forward fails to have any sense of reality about what's really going on in Australia at the moment. It's a very, very challenging time, where we have to continue to train our own and help create more jobs. (Time expired)

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australians have been rickrolled by this Prime Minister. He has given up on them, he has let them down and it's clear that the government will hurt Western Australians at any opportunity. In Western Australia, just 22,944 vaccines have been administered. The government have known for more than a year that they would need to administer a vaccine program in every state of the Commonwealth. At one point it might have been that they didn't know what to do, because Gladys Berejiklian had a whisper in the Prime Minister's ear and said, 'I think you should put New South Wales ahead of the queue'—here's the article where she said, 'I think we should put New South Wales ahead of the queue.' But we still wait, day after day.

Then, today, we saw in the West Australian newspaper, a great newspaper, Senator Michaelia Cash saying, 'The coalition stands behind its record.' Well, it's good that she's standing behind their record rather than behind a whiteboard. Their record in Western Australia is terrible. We have the fake money promised by the member for Tangney for the Roe 8 project.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You want to reallocate fake money, do you? What do you want to reallocate it to, if it's fake?

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will cease interjecting.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've had the fake money for the Roe 8, we've got the fake tradie, we've got the fake coalminer over in the Senate and now we have the fake PM with his fake airline ticket to support the tourism industry. The tourism industry have seen through this fake support. We know that it does nothing for Perth, for the hotels in Perth that are doing it tough and are about to have JobKeeper ripped away. It does nothing for the South West. I'll quote the Tourism Council of WA CEO, Evan Hall, who said about this policy, this government's policy, which is supposed to support the tourism industry: 'This is a devastating blow.' He said it is a devastating blow for the tourism industry, at a time when you have a lot of businesses looking to close their doors at the end of JobKeeper. This is someone who's actually in touch with what is happening and with what is likely to happen when, in my electorate, 8,000 people have JobKeeper ripped away in 11 days time. The Tourism Council says, when it comes to Western Australia, 'We are an afterthought at best.'

I heard the assistant minister speaking before, and he said that the biggest issue facing Australia is staff shortages. If they think the biggest issue in Australia right now is staff shortages, I will quote from Flying High and say, 'Surely you can't be serious.' I would have thought that jobs for the unemployed would be a bigger issue. I would have thought ending gender based violence would be a bigger issue. I would have thought rolling out the vaccine would be a bigger issue for this government. But no. Apparently the biggest issue they face is staff shortages.

When it comes to this government and its capacity to support the economy in a really difficult time, it's really great at promising things and then, quietly, off in the background, campaigning against them. Take Senator Dean Smith, the Western Australian senator. You'd remember that former Senator Cormann announced the Perth City Deal: a $1.5 billion investment, including an investment in Edith Cowan University, in my electorate. But then what arrived in the letterbox of my constituents from Liberal Senator Dean Smith? A letter campaigning against the relocation of ECU Mount Lawley, something that his own government announced and is funding. No wonder that, when it comes to the fake announcements we get from this fake Prime Minister, people have a little bit of scepticism about what's going to happen.

But I'll tell you what's not fake. What is not fake is that we're going to see 8,000 people in my electorate lose JobKeeper at the end of this month. That's $3.9 million a week in support being taken out of my local economy. Across Western Australia, 75,000 workers are still relying on JobKeeper. These jobs exist because of that financial support. I remember when the government said that we didn't need a wage subsidy, and they were wrong. Now they're cutting it again, saying, 'We don't need the wage subsidy anymore.'

This government learned last year to backflip. I really do hope that, if things do not turn out as planned and, if, indeed, there are further job losses when they tear away this vital economic support, they see a way through, put their ideology at the door and support workers. Western Australia missed out because of sports rorts, we missed out because of the Safer Communities Fund rorts and now we're missing out because of the Prime Minister's colour coded travel map. (Time expired)

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those on the other side of the chamber don't get what business is about. They don't understand business. They don't know what a BAS statement is or how long it takes a small-business owner to fill in a BAS statement every month or quarter. They don't know how to run a budget, on that side. The thought of those on the other side being in charge of our budget as we come out of this coronavirus pandemic—can you imagine the absolute train wreck—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moncrieff will pause. Members on my left will cease to interject, and, if the member for Solomon is not taking a seat, he will either leave the chamber or cease to interject. The member for Moncrieff.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have three words for Australians and those opposite: coronavirus recovery plan. Not only do those opposite not know how to fill in a BAS statement but also they don't know how to plan their way through a twin crisis—a health crisis and an economic crisis. They wouldn't have any idea how to plan through that.

I want to talk about the economic recovery that the member for Rankin doesn't want to talk about, because the national accounts show that the Morrison government's economic recovery plan is working. Those on the other side don't want to hear that it's working. The member for Rankin just wants the Treasurer's job. Can you imagine if he were in charge of this country in the position we're currently facing? The good news is that in the December quarter Australia enjoyed economic growth of 3.1 per cent, significantly beating market expectations of 2.5 per cent. Who did that? That would be the Treasurer of our great country leading us through this pandemic and out the other side. That's two consecutive quarters of economic growth in Australia of more than three per cent.

For the first time in Australian recorded history we've had two quarters of economic growth of more than three per cent. That's quite an achievement, don't you think? At the moment, under duress, in the situation that this country's in, that is the result. I think that's extraordinary. Australians across our great nation think that's extraordinary. It is a long way from two negative quarters of growth, and we on this side of the chamber know that two negative quarters of growth equals recession.

An opposition member interjecting—

A member opposite said, 'Everyone knows that!' No, everybody doesn't know that. Those on the other side don't know that. They don't know how to fill out a BAS. They don't know the difficulties of small business across Australia. The Australian economy has recovered 85 per cent.

Opposition members interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left, particularly the member for Dunkley, will cease interjecting.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's response to this twin health and economic crisis has been very successful. The UK, for example, contracted by 9.9 per cent; Italy contracted by 8.9 per cent; France contracted by 8.2 per cent; Canada contracted by five per cent; Japan contracted by 4.8 per cent; and the United States of America contracted by 3.3 per cent. Where is Australia, to those opposite? Australia contracted by only 2.5 per cent. There's silence from the other side of the chamber now. We're right at the very top of the ladder. We are in a very good position.

Our country is leading the way and our Treasurer is leading the way. Direct economic support from the federal government halved in the December quarter, yet, at the same time, the economy grew. That means it went up—by 3.1 per cent. It grew. There were 320,000 new jobs added to the economy. There were 2.1 million Australian workers who graduated off JobKeeper. The private sector's going to look after those people. Ninety per cent of jobs—for those opposite, if you're listening—come from the private sector. They come from small business and medium business, or SMEs. And they are graduating off JobKeeper all the time. I hear it from my electorate. I hear about HomeBuilder and how that's keeping the construction industry going. They say on the other side we're not helping industry. What about construction? There's Homebuilder. What about JobKeeper? That goes across all of industry and all of business. What about the tourism recovery package we just announced last week? On the Gold Coast, $1.2 billion— (Time expired)

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an impassioned performance from the member for Moncrieff! Congratulations, but I do have to pick up on a few of the points she made. Gold standard? Really? Gold standard of what? We heard that there are three words to describe the Morrison government's economic record. I've got three words to describe that record: one trillion dollars. That's debt.

There are too many people who are being left behind by the government. They just want to pretend that the pandemic is over and that it's business as usual. But, for my community, that is far from the truth. I've spoken most recently with a number of people who are very anxious about what their lives are going to look like over the coming year. Local businesses in Jagajaga have been relying on JobKeeper. In my electorate, almost 10,000 workers are expected to lose JobKeeper at the end of this month, with $4.8 million a week in support being ripped away from our local economy by this government. That is serious stuff. I have spent a lot of time in the past month talking with small businesses in my electorate who are on the edge. This pandemic is not over for them. They have not recovered. They know that they have been doing everything they can to keep their businesses going and to keep their employees on the books through what has been an incredibly difficult time. They also know that they are not through the woods yet. But the message they get from this government, who is planning to rip away JobKeeper from them, is that it's done. You're on your own. I know all these things because I've been talking with businesses in my electorate. But this government seems to have a tin ear when it comes to actually talking to small business.

I would like to draw your attention to some correspondence I've received from someone who lives in my electorate but whose business is based in the Treasurer's electorate. His businesses is based in Camberwell, Victoria, and he tells me that he employs 19 staff, seven of whom live in my electorate. This is what Miki has to say about his business:

My business has suffered severe consequences as a result of Covid-19 like many business in Australia. Our revenue has been down by more than 30% each month since March last year and despite this I am happy to say we have been able to keep all our staff on during these hard times. We have not reduced their salaries, hours etc. These staff are connected to 19 families who have in turn approx. 17 children.

So Miki is doing the right thing by his employees. But then he tells me:

Where our problem lies is that despite meeting all the qualifying criteria for Job Keeper and most other Government forms of stimulus there is one test that we have not been able to pass simply because of a definition.

The member for Moncrieff mentioned BAS statements and her understanding of them, so I'll put this to the member for Moncrieff. Miki says that his business is a finance company and finance does not attract GST. So therefore, when he completes his BAS return, he doesn't declare any GST revenue, because he's not input taxed. For this reason, he is not eligible for JobKeeper for his business.

As I said, his business is based in the Treasurer's electorate, and he has written to the Treasurer a number of times asking for assistance for his business, asking for the Treasurer to give assistance so that he can keep all his staff on. And do you know what's happened? Has he had a meeting with the Treasurer? Has the Treasurer helped him out? No, he hasn't. He says:

We have even tried on many occasions written to the Hon Josh Frydenberg who is the local member of where our business is located in Camberwell. After months of non-responsiveness I finally decided to personally visit his office last week and spoke to a couple of his staff—

So thank you to those staff for trying to help, but he still has not been able to get help from the Treasurer. He says:

To say we have been disappointed with how his office has handled our situation would be a gross understatement!

Again, these are businesses in the Treasurer's own electorate that this government is not listening to. You don't know—you don't understand what is going on in our communities. They still need support and you are ripping it away. On behalf of this business and on behalf of the other small businesses in my electorate that this government is ignoring, I ask you to do more. I ask you to support them, to support jobs, to support families. Don't walk away.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I didn't want to interrupt the previous speaker, but during—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member has a point of order?

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. I would ask the assistant minister to withdraw an unparliamentary remark he made about the Queensland Premier during the course of the contribution of the member for Jagajaga.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I didn't hear the unparliamentary remark.

Mr Howarth interjecting—

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Either way, it was an unparliamentary remark, and I think you should withdraw it, with respect.

Mr Howarth interjecting—

Mr Husic interjecting—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley won't argue across the table. Did the assistant minister make an unparliamentary remark?

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I was talking about a Victorian Premier. It wasn't unparliamentary about anyone in the House.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Did the assistant minister—

A government member: Ed, you're supposed to ask at the time that they do it.

The member for Lindsay.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's fantastic that the member for Chifley is in here again listening to another opportunity where I can talk about what I'm doing in Western Sydney, particularly when it comes to backing manufacturing. We all know the facts are in the numbers, and the numbers are high in Lindsay, with 600 manufacturers. I think the numbers are so low for the member for Chifley, I can't even remember what they were. There is a great opportunity to talk about supporting industries because we're not only supporting them in Western Sydney; we are actually creating industries, particularly when it comes to advanced manufacturing, and ensuring our manufacturers have lower energy prices, unlike those opposite.

At the last election, Labor's failed energy policies included a 45 per cent emission reduction target that we know was going to slash jobs and slash industries like manufacturing. We still have the same old Labor putting together incoherent energy and climate policies. As the member for Hunter put it:

… after 14 years of trying, the Labor Party has made not one contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in this country.

Only the Morrison government can deliver affordable, reliable energy for our manufacturing industry in Western Sydney—and it's not just me saying this. John from ACO Australia in Emu Plains joined me and the Prime Minister for our manufacturing roundtable because the Prime Minister, like me, is a very passionate about ensuring we're backing Aussie manufacturers in Lindsay and Western Sydney. ACO predominantly uses gas to power their plant, manufacturing items for use in the construction industry—another industry that the Morrison government is backing. John noted the recent decrease in their gas costs has improved the efficiency of their business. This is part of a consistent drop in their gas expenses over the last year, going from almost $10,000 per month in early 2020, down to around $7,000—a saving of $3,000 this year. John told me that this is allowing ACO to invest more into their business. The more they can invest into their business, the more local jobs they can create. This is how delivering affordable, reliable energy gives manufacturers in Lindsay, and right across Australia, the certainty to reinvest into their business so they can scale up and be competitive on the global stage.

We are backing the manufacturing industry. At my manufacturers' roundtable, 30 manufacturers from right across Lindsay spoke to the Prime Minister and me, and it was really a testament to how our national policies are working on the ground. I've got some great feedback from some of our local manufacturers, including Tracy, the Managing Director of Plustec. She is a proud Aussie manufacturer and she has also used another policy of ours, the instant asset write-off, which has enabled her to purchase equipment that she needs to scale up, to expand, and to create more local jobs. She told me and the Prime Minister how the instant asset write-off is making the processes in her business more efficient, streamlining the production and allowing her to reinvest more in her business.

It's not only manufacturing that we're investing in in Western Sydney. We're not only supporting this industry but growing and creating a new industry in advanced manufacturing. We're also investing in local jobs when it comes to the construction industry, when it comes to everything around Western Sydney international airport. This is where the new opportunities are coming in advanced manufacturing.

I'm really pleased to say that we're supporting industries out there and local jobs so much that already the Western Sydney airport are almost doubling their local employment targets through the construction phase. A great local small-business owner, Frank, the managing director of Two Way Cranes, based in Western Sydney, told me how proud he is to be part of this project. He said: 'Securing the crane hire contract for Western Sydney airport was one of the highlights of my business career. The project has enabled me to look further into the future, order new cranes and hire more employees. Most of my current employees and staff were born and raised in Western Sydney, and we all enjoy working on the project.' Two Way Cranes are also engaging local businesses throughout their work on site, further supporting our economy and local jobs.

We're investing in Western Sydney airport to create the jobs of the future, to back our local industry, to back our local small businesses and to even create a new industry in advanced manufacturing. This is all about local people and supporting local jobs.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has concluded.