Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's good to be able to stand here today and talk about what this government is doing to create jobs. Time and time again those opposite use this time, in taking note of answers to questions, to give us another opportunity to talk about the great record of this government in creating jobs. So I thank those opposite for raising this and giving us that opportunity again.

This particular program, the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages, is creating thousands of jobs in regional Australia. The Australian government committed $222.3 million of funding in RJIP to help diversify regional economies, stimulate economic growth and deliver sustainable employment. In the first half of 2018, 233 projects across the 10 pilot regions were approved. Projects are expected to create more than 12,000 local jobs. As the ANAO report acknowledged, for an investment of $220.5 million in grant funding the program has leveraged an estimated additional $467.8 million in project costs to support projects that drive economic growth in regional Australia. That is a fantastic return that the Australian government has been able to get on behalf of taxpayers in investing that money and creating jobs.

But that isn't all that the Australian government is doing. The Liberal-National government has a tremendous record in creating jobs in regional Australia through other programs, such as the $841 million Building Better Regions Fund, which is delivering 832 projects. There's one particular project I'd highlight, which is in the very southern part of Western Australia, in the town of Esperance. Through this fund we are enabling the development of a jetty that's going to enable deep-water vessels to come in there, and, again, it's creating jobs. There are projects right across regional Australia that we on this side of the chamber could all point to where the Liberal-National government is investing significant sums in great investments that are returning amazing outcomes. We could have asked some questions. We could have taken note of the question that I gave to Senator Cash where we talked about, in another regional part—although it's very close to a major urban setting but, nonetheless, an outer urban area—and that's in my neck of the woods in the city of Mandurah, where we had the Jobs Fair just over a week ago. There were 91 apprenticeships on offer in that job fair. Apprenticeships are life-changing opportunities for people, and there were 91 apprenticeships that were on offer in that area. We saw the whole place filled with people. There were plenty of other jobs there. Many hundreds of other jobs were available. The place was there. People were optimistic. They were looking forward to it. You only need to go back a few years in Mandurah and you would know that there have been significant and high levels of youth unemployment, but the ship is turning. There is significant change happening there, and there's optimism. People are looking forward to the opportunities that are being created in this economy.

Over 300,000 additional jobs were created last year, in 2018-19. That's a growth of 2.6 per cent. These are big numbers, but it represents families. It represents individuals who have been able to get ahead and make a better life for themselves and their families. It is a significant impact upon their lives. This government has a tremendous record when it comes to creating jobs, particularly in regional areas.

The National Stronger Regions Fund is a $611 million program that's delivering 225 projects. The $272 million program of the Regional Growth Fund is delivering 17 projects, and there's over $157 million going, importantly, to the Drought Communities Program, which is delivering 489 projects across Australia.