Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

That's it. That's all they've got. At the end of the year, that's all they've got. Senator Conroy made a very important point, highlighting the fact that at the end of the year, as the parliament comes to its close, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate gets up to explain his alternative vision for Australia, to explain what the alternative government of this country would offer to our people. There was not one policy, not one idea, not one contribution; all there was was abuse and negativity. He followed his leader, 'Dr No,' with 'No, no, no,' and with fear, fear, fear, but had nothing else to say. I suspect there is some anger and frustration behind the petulance we see today.

I suspect the Liberal Party think they have not had a great week. I think they are right. I understand their anger and frustration but, quite frankly, they really ought to try to focus on the things which are important to Australians. To those who do not understand parliamentary process, generally a tactics committee meets and drafts the questions the opposition will use to apply pressure on the government at question time. They got to question No. 2 today. They could find only two questions and when the tactics committee racked their brains—such as they are—they could come up with only two questions. So the solution was: 'Let's move a censure. Let's hide behind abuse, ridicule and negativity, rather than contribute something to the public policy debate in this country.'

I understand that what happened in the House of Representatives earlier today has upset them. They are upset, they are frustrated, and I understand that. What today highlights again is the capacity of this government, despite being a minority in both houses of parliament, to deliver. We continue to deliver. We continue to give good government to the people of Australia. During this parliament we have passed 250 pieces of legislation. We have had to negotiate. We have had to work our way through the processes but we have shown the capacity to do that.

The reason this government was formed was we had the capacity to negotiate, to offer a vision for the future of this country and to govern in a sensible, pragmatic and moderate way to deliver for Australians. We continue to deliver for Australians.

Despite the challenges of being a minority government, this government has delivered some of the most major economic reforms seen in the history of this country. Despite the pressures of numbers the government confronts, we continue to deliver good policy. The best measure of that is that we have created more than 700,000 jobs. More Australians are in work. More Australians are earning a living and are able to afford a decent standard of living not only because they are in work but also because they have an industrial relations system that gives them some protections, that allows them to get a decent wage, that allows them protection from unfair dismissal and that gives them decent industrial conditions. This is not the sort of thing the Liberal Party stands for—it is not the Work Choices regime. We have people in this country who have jobs, who have good conditions at their workplaces and who have security. They are able to plan their lives, to invest in buying their homes and to invest in the future of their children. We continue to deliver security to those families by providing jobs and stable economic conditions.

It is interesting to look at the unemployment figures in this country and compare them with the USA, the UK and Europe. We have half the rate of unemployment those countries have because this government invested during the time of the global financial crisis in a stimulus that saw us through. It saw us emerge as a country that is the envy of most countries of the world. It is because we invested.