Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am a details man, Senator Smith, my good friend from Western Australia. This is a global issue, but you would not know it from the Labor Party's contribution to this debate.

My colleague Senator Ciccone refers to Greece as a benchmark for Australia—Greece! I must say, you started to lose all credibility when you referred to Greece as a benchmark. The IMF report—the same IMF report that they've selectively quoted from, taken out of context—confirms that the unemployment rate in Greece is 19.3 per cent. That's the benchmark the opposition's referring to. That's nearly four times as high as the current unemployment rate in Australia. Since the GFC, the Greek economy is 23 per cent smaller and the Australian economy is 33 per cent larger. The IMF forecasts long-run growth in Australia to be three times as high as that of Greece. But that's the benchmark that's referred to by my friend on the opposition benches. Gross government debt in Greece is 184 per cent of GDP. That's the reference point we get from my good friend Senator Ciccone.

But let's move on to Senator Green, another decent senator sitting on the other side of this chamber. Senator Green raises the question of why it is that people on this side of the chamber, especially we Queensland senators, refer to the Queensland Labor government. The problem is that they're standing in the way of job creation. The people of Queensland are absolutely fed up and tired of the do-nothing Palaszczuk-Trad government. Minister Canavan referred to the Rookwood Weir: 2,100 jobs in Central Queensland that could be unleashed in the economy in Queensland if the Queensland government simply took advantage of the opportunity presented to them, but they refuse to do so, because they're a do-nothing government. And New Hope's Acland stage 3: for 10 years they've been seeking the approvals, and now they're having to lay off 150 workers. That's not creating new jobs; those were existing jobs—people having to be laid off because of the do-nothing Labor government.

The reality of this matter is that the coalition government has a plan. Quiet Australians endorsed that plan by providing a majority to the coalition government. And can I tell you that nowhere was the expression of that support louder than in regional Queensland, where they weren't just quiet Australians; they gave an almighty roar.