Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, on this side of the chamber we understand that you need to put in place the right policy framework so that the economy grows and business is able to prosper and create more jobs. It is fundamentally different to those opposite. All they have for the Australian people is a plan for higher debt—they openly admitted that prior to the election—higher taxes and more regulation. If you look at the period in which the current Leader of the Opposition was the workplace relations minister, the number of unemployed people increased by around 72,000. In trend terms, from November 2007 to the end of Labor's time in office 128,800 manufacturing jobs, around one in eight, disappeared completely. In terms of policies that stifled growth, there was the carbon tax; and what about the mining tax? On this side of the chamber we understand that you need the right policy framework. (Time expired)