Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We see from the opposition a complete failure of leadership. All they can do is throw slurs backwards and forwards across the chamber. That's what the Labor Party, particularly Senator Watt, has been reduced to: not really interested in doing anything other than casting aspersions on other members of the parliament, regardless of their considerable contributions to the Australian people. If you look at the achievements of the Australian government since we were elected in 2013 but particularly since the election in 2016, you'll find that this government has delivered and continues to deliver for the Australian people. Over one million Australians are in new jobs since we came to government in 2013. Strong economic management and leadership, despite all the other circumstances we've had to manage over the last five years, have put us in a strong position economically, where the Australian economy has created over one million jobs, 770,000 of which were created since September 2015 and 339,000 in the last 12 months. It's one of the best periods of jobs growth on record.

In my patch, where jobs are important, that sort of economic leadership makes a difference. During the Braddon by-election campaign, in which I participated quite closely, over a period of three weeks 800 new jobs were announced, which shows that there is business and economic confidence in the community. The biggest threat to that is the complete failure of leadership from the Labor Party. They no longer believe the things that they believed while in government.

I watched Bill Shorten on a polling booth. He stood there for 30 minutes and nobody wanted to talk to him. He spoke to three people in 30 minutes—