Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is one thing that we all agree on in this chamber and that is that we need more jobs. We particularly need more jobs for young people. We need more jobs for older members of the community. Unfortunately, what we have heard from Senator Cameron and delivered when we came into government was a shocking situation which this government, of course, is moving very, very actively to address.

Let me tell you just in terms of new jobs: 163,000 new jobs from the beginning of this year; 23,000 new jobs per month. Since the coalition came into government, well over 333,800 new jobs have been created But that is not enough. It is absolutely not enough. Senator Moore makes this point in her MPI, as do others who have spoken. We are out there and we are working hard.

Where do most jobs occur in this economy, and where are the new jobs going to come, particularly for the young, particularly for the long-term unemployed, particularly for older people and particularly in rural and regional areas? You know as well as I do, Acting Deputy President Smith—since you have spoken on this recently yourself—that it is in the small and middle sector. It is not in government employment and it is not in large corporations' employment; it is in the small business sector. What did we have in this last budget due to the excellent work of Minister Billson? It was the initiatives, of course, that we are seeing now: a 1½ per cent drop in the company tax rate for small business and the opportunity for small businesses to invest up to $20,000 in individual income-generating and revenue-generating initiatives—and we are already starting to see the benefits of this.

What are we seeing in the skills development area, particularly in our own state, where, as we know, the big development projects were always coming to a conclusion? Those of us who travelled the other day to Gorgon and Wheatstone included Senator Lines; Senator Sterle; Ms MacTiernan, the member for Perth; and several others. We saw in the case of the Gorgon project that it is 90 per cent complete now and Wheatstone is 65 per cent complete. I remind those unfamiliar that these are jointly $80 billion combined projects. I am going to come back to that in a few moments because of some of the actions of the more feral unions.

We are seeing now as a result of the initiatives of the coalition government, in the mining sector alone in Western Australia, 4,800 apprenticeship commencements and 36,600 apprentices in training. We are seeing now, for example, in WA alone, through the new Australian Apprenticeship Support Network across Western Australia 41 sites, including outreach sites, already in place in Durack and in O'Connor particularly, in those areas where we know there will be a demand. This is what this government is doing. It is focusing on skills development. It is focusing on training opportunities for young people. It is, for example, focusing on the trade loan scheme, which is not $5,000 for a few tools that is paid once but is a $20,000 loan program. It is fair to say that there has not been an enormous take-up—I think about 2½ thousand alone in our state—but I will tell you what has happened as a result of the initiatives of the coalition government: many of the young apprentices have stayed on to complete their apprenticeships. And how vitally important is that?

I will come for a moment to the all-too-predictable response the other day to the Productivity Commission's report, when they addressed a number of issues. The first one I will speak about is greenfields agreements—in other words, agreements that should last for the length of the project. What are we seeing at the moment with the CFMEU in the Gorgon project? It is 90 per cent complete, and they are all going out on strike simply because they are trying to push the last few hours, days and weeks of that project. They are complaining about Chevron, which will not negotiate with them. Chevron does not employ any workers. It is all done by contractors.

Here is a case, Acting Deputy President, as you know, of a project that is worth $80 billion that has created for the MUA its richest opportunity ever in its history. A company in Houston, Chevron, has made its biggest investment anywhere in the world: three gas trains at Gorgon, two gas trains at Wheatstone and the opportunity for a fourth and a fifth at Gorgon and more at Wheatstone. So you would have thought, wouldn't you, that the head of that union would have been over there saying to that company, 'How can we work collaboratively and collectively to influence your board, Mr Watson'—the chairman of Chevron internationally—'so that you might decide to invest in a fourth and fifth train, however expensive it is to work offshore in WA compared to the Gulf of Mexico in the US?' It is more than double.

What did the head of the MUA do? He stood up in Houston at the AGM of Chevron and completely bucketed the management of the Chevron company with a whole stack of fallacious statements about occupational health and safety on those projects. How do you think the board of Chevron thought, or how will they think when they go to the conclusion as to whether they invest several billion more dollars in those projects? I do not know what was in Paddy Crumlin's mind. I have no idea. The head of a union whose members are making hundreds of thousands of dollars—his own union, absolutely glowing with riches—went across to that country and lambasted the operations of Chevron in Australia with a whole stack of lies about the relationship between the Australian Taxation Office and Chevron and Chevron's relationship with its Singapore identities. I can only wonder what Mr Martin Ferguson must have thought, when he said that the greatest thing holding back the opportunities in that industry is in fact the poor relations occurring across the board—again, with Mr Crumlin sitting beside him and the head of the CFMEU in that state, Mr Buchan. I am at a loss. Maybe somebody can explain it to me.

Time does not permit, of course. Senator Cameron spoke briefly and others have spoken briefly about naval shipbuilding in South Australia. As Senator Fawcett said, the last government ripped $16 billion out of the defence budget, having a dramatic effect on opportunities in South Australia, and this government is turning it around and committing heavily to re-establishing a viable shipbuilding industry. I will back the coalition every time when it comes to job opportunities.