Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that point, Mr Deputy President. Thank you for that. This is the objective behind this opposition that want to be in government in Queensland. Their objective is to cut jobs in Queensland—in their terms, and Senator Boyce reflected on them—making them ‘denecessary’. Try to find that definition in the dictionary, please, Senator Boyce. You will not find it; there is no such terminology. This is the type of LNP leader they expect to be elected in Queensland. All it is is the old Queensland Liberal Party and National Party recycled. It is the recycling of the old brand. It is nothing new.

Talking about jobs, I will take you back in time to 1997. The views of the industrial relations and training minister at the time—I think it was Santo Santoro, from memory—on jobs mirrored the Peter Reith legislation, the Workplace Relations Act 1996. He was that lazy in the way that he handled that legislation that the only thing he did was change the title to make it the Queensland Workplace Relations Act 1997. He made the right of entry notice 48 hours. Isn’t that a surprise—the Queensland coalition government, similar to the members on the crossbench, wanting to change right of entry notice to 48 hours! The only other thing they did in that legislation, other than mirroring it, was to apply Queensland workplace agreements. It is quite an easy task to pick up a piece of legislation from the federal arena and put your logo on it and rebadge it.

As Queensland has a population growing by approximately 1,800 per week, with people coming across the border, we need services in Queensland. We cannot afford to have jobs made ‘denecessary’. We need to support our public service. It is the greatest employer in the state. If we do away with jobs in that arena, what is going to happen to the private sector? Naturally there will be a downturn in resources and jobs growth. Queensland Labor is focusing on jobs. It is about growing jobs in Queensland and keeping Queensland strong. On the other hand, the LNP is about making them ‘denecessary’ or ‘front-ending’ them—the other terminology they have come up with. For the life of me I do not know what those two things are, and I am sure they do not either.

This is where we are heading with this upcoming state election. That is the agenda of the opposition. They have no credentials; they have no ability to be elected. All they are going to do to fund their $3 billion election promises is to make ‘denecessary’ jobs in the public service. That is why on Saturday, as Queenslanders, we need to make sure we keep Queensland strong with a Labor government. (Time expired)