Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

What we have heard here in the response to Senator Urquhart's questions by Senator Abetz, a Tasmanian senator himself, is: 'Don't blame us when it comes to workers and their families losing their jobs on the west coast of Tasmania. Don't blame us. We're just the government. We can't do anything.' Senator Abetz wants to keep going back in time and holding onto this thing of 10 months ago when Labor was in power, trying to blame every single lack of government policymaking that they currently have on Labor. Well, this is the government that is in power and this is the government that can do something right now to support those workers on the west coast of Tasmania.

Senator Urquhart asked a very specific question of Senator Abetz. He failed to answer it. She asked specifically about the employment coordinator position that no longer exists on the west coast of Tasmania. We know that these positions do not exist in fact anywhere in the country—the whole 21 of them have gone—except for in the electorate of Corangamite, in Sarah Henderson's electorate. I have got a press release here from Sarah Henderson, which she only put out on 2 July—I think it was following her appearance on a Q&A program. Senator Abetz came to her rescue. In relation to the Alcoa workers, Senator Abetz decided to come up with the $500,000 to reinstate the employment coordinator for the Geelong region. It is all right for Geelong. It is good enough Geelong, but it is not good enough for his own state of Tasmania. He is turning his back on the workers in his own state. He gets up here in the Senate and tells those workers, tells the Tasmanian community, that it is not the government's problem, that they are not going to do anything about it. It was okay for Geelong, but it is not okay for the west coast of Tasmania.

In relation to the member for Braddon, Brett Whiteley, we know all about him. We know he is all about bluff and blunder. He is not about action. He has got the mouth. He goes out there spreading the words, but they are not followed up with any action. Having said that, Senator Urquhart has informed the Senate that, after two weeks, he is finally going to do something and get involved with the working group, unlike what he has said in the past, which was: 'You're losing your job. Go to Centrelink. Don't come to me. I'm just the local member. I'm just the government. I can't help you.' That is what we get to hear from Senator Abetz and from Mr Whiteley.

We know very well the importance of Enterprise Connect. We know very well how important that coordinator position was in Tasmania and the work that was done by the former employment coordinator, James McCormack. That is why we are calling on the government to provide, right now, a regional employment coordinator for the west coast and the north-west coast of Tasmania, just as Geelong has been provided with, just as Sarah Henderson informed us, in her press release of 2 July, that she was provided with for her electorate of Corangamite. She knows the importance of the regional employment coordinator in the face of Alcoa workers losing their jobs. She says:

The funding will ensure there is a person on the ground in the Geelong region who can look at opportunities across our region to promote employment growth and better link job seekers and employers.

She knows very well that this job seeker initiative was a good policy that Labor started. That is why she urged Senator Abetz come forward with the $500,000. The only regional employment coordinator in the country is in the electorate of Corangamite. The rest of the country? Too bad. In Tasmania, Senator Abetz's own state, he says, 'Too bad.' Here are workers and their families whose livelihoods are on the line. They have been living on half-pay now for some time. They know that their future is bleak in that regional part of the state. There need to be those opportunities provided to them through the support of an employment coordinator. That is why Senator Urquhart and I, followed by the other Tasmanian Labor senators, are urging Senator Abetz to stand up for Tasmanians for once and actually come forward with this very small amount of money that will make such a difference to their lives. (Time expired)