Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot believe that Senator Ferguson is being critical of us putting in place a fund like this to assist community organisations that have missed out on contracts. I want to remind the good senator that the network and tendering structure was based on your government’s system. Your government introduced the tendering system. We are improving it to help the long-term unemployed. You may not have been thinking about that for the 12 years you were in government, but we are thinking about it. That is what the government is about: a real jobs plan. You can add to that the Jobs Fund. I want to thank Senator Fielding, Senator Xenophon and the Greens senators for their work in establishing the Jobs Fund. It is going to mean real work, not the old conveyor belt to the past of your—(Time expired)