Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I thought I said 'the honourable senator'—that is, I would have thought, in accord with the standing orders, Madame Acting Deputy President. The honourable senator said that there was no jobs plan for the nation. The honourable senator is wrong because we do, in fact, have a plan. It was about abolishing the carbon tax. Labor and the Greens opposed it right up until the Senate changed, and then they still opposed it. We now know that people in the manufacturing sector—those who did survive the carbon tax—will have it foisted upon them in the event a Labor government is re-elected.

Similarly, there is the abolition of the mining tax. We got rid of the mining tax to assist workers remain in jobs. Indeed, the free trade agreements that we have been able to negotiate—things that Labor said could not be achieved—that will be jobs-rich and wealth-creating for our country have been ridiculed and were spoken of in negative terms in question time today by honourable senators opposite.

We have removed green and red tape. We are bringing the budget back into shape. Everybody with one ounce of economic sense and understanding knows that those measures are job-creating by their very nature. We do have a jobs plan. Indeed, it was my pleasure to host a meeting of the L20, a component of the G20, of labour and employment ministers in Melbourne, in September of this year, and then address the L20 in Brisbane, on Thursday last week. We put out a jobs plan. Australia's leadership on the international scene has been so very important in ensuring that we have real economic growth, because we know that with real economic growth you achieve employment growth.

Please do not come into this place and assert that somehow this is a government without a jobs plan. We went to the last election and indicated what our jobs plan was and the methodology by which we would achieve it. Regrettably, the Australian Labor Party and the Greens used the first nine months—indeed, the first quarter—of this government's term in seeking to stop every single measure that we had sought to introduce to create jobs and wealth. Thanks to the crossbenchers, we are now making progress. We are seeing the abolition of things such as the carbon and mining taxes, we are seeing the reduction of green and red tape and we look forward to the benefits that the free trade agreements will produce.

I note that my colleague Minister Hunt, the Minister for the Environment, in the first 12 months of office has been able to approve $1 trillion worth of projects—what a huge figure. Why has he been able to do it? The Labor-Greens government could not bring themselves to do that which they should have done during their last term of government—namely, approve a whole lot of projects that were backlogged and which have now been relieved through the proper decision making of my colleague the Minister for the Environment. Will all the projects go ahead? That I do not know, but what I do know is that they should not have been stifled by the Labor-Greens government that was paralysed from decision making for fear that they might lose a particular vote, putting their own political future ahead of Australian jobs. Our record in the first 12 months of government is a record of seeking to kick every possible goal for job creation in this country. Regrettably, for the first nine months, we were absolutely frustrated by the Labor-Greens senators in this place.

To sum up, it is pretty easy. To date, there have been no claims made under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee by workers in the textile, clothing and footwear industry. All this regulation will do is ensure that this particular sector is in lockstep with all other sectors in the economy in the event that if, and it is a big 'if' and I accept that, the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Amendment Bill 2014 passes through parliament. So good, sensible bookkeeping and good, sensible administration would ensure that you would keep the two in lockstep. We now have the possibility, given that I have raised the white flag on behalf of the government, understanding the numbers in this place, that benefits accruing to one sector may well be taken away from other sectors in the event that the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Amendment Bill is in fact carried in this place.

Therefore, I simply say to the Senate: I can understand the arguments that have been raised, but those arguments should be raised during the discussion of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Bill not under this particular regulation, which simply seeks to marry all sectors of the workforce into the one regime. I understand the numbers in this place are against us, but I simply say that the time to make that statement to actually make that vote should have been under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Bill when that is presented to the Senate. I conclude my remarks by saying that the government fully supports the regulation but understands the numbers in this place.