Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A letter has been received from Senator Moore:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The decisions of the Abbott Government that have led to the loss of more than 50,000 jobs in the past five months.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today’s debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on what is the most important issue facing the Australian public for many years—that is, the decisions that the Abbott government have made that have led to the loss of 50,000 jobs in the past five months and that would lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the future. The genesis of many of these job losses was the policy decision of the then opposition to abandon workers, to abandon families and to abandon communities in the vehicle-manufacturing industry of this country.

Former shadow minister Sophie Mirabella developed a policy to rip $500 million out of co-investment funding for the industry. According to every analysis that you see from the industry itself, this created instability and uncertainty. On top of that we saw the new government, the Abbott government, goading GMH to make a decision as to whether they were going to stay or go. They made it quite clear to GM that they actually did not care about the jobs of manufacturing workers in the Holden plants around this country. They knew that once that decision was made the capacity for Toyota to maintain production in this country was massively diminished because of the loss of components-manufacturing jobs and because the ability to produce cars in this country would diminish as a result of this push.

They then went on to verbal Toyota workers—blame the workers—for defending their wages and conditions. The Toyota workers have got decent wages and decent conditions, but let me tell you, if what happens elsewhere in the world and what has happened here in the past, when they lose their jobs, those workers at GM and Toyota will have on average about eight to 25 per cent less in take-home pay in the jobs they moved to from the car industry. So they will lose lots of money; they will lose lots of security; and they will have many, many problems as time moves on because of this decision of the Abbott government.

The others decision that the Abbott government made was to refuse to assist SPC, and we all know that Dr Sharman Stone said the arguments put forward by the coalition in defence of their refusal to help families and communities in Victoria were lies. This was not what the Labor Party said; this is what our senior experienced Liberal politicians said about the decision to refuse to assist SPC. Mr Abbott previously said that manufacturing jobs were important; but when he said that you have to remember it was before the election. It was when he was running around in his high-vis vest and his hard-hat, trying to tell workers that he was the friend of workers. He actually addressed the Victorian Liberal party in 2011 and this is what he said:

Let the message go out from here in Melbourne, the manufacturing heart of our country, that we must be a country that continues to make things.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that:

Speaking on Melbourne radio after a visit to the Ford motor plant in Geelong Abbott waxed lyrical: "It's an iconic Australian plant. It's been opened since 1925 ad it's one of the many major Australian manufacturers which would be at risk under a carbon tax.

It was not at risk under a carbon tax, but certainly at risk under an Abbott government. He then went on—and remember this was prior to the election—to say:

I think any government which makes it harder to manufacture cars is making it harder for us to continue to be a First World economy because without cars, without steel, without aluminium, without cement, we don't have these manufacturers in Australia, we are not really a sophisticated economy any more.'

So, this is what the Prime Minister, that then Leader of the Opposition, said to Ford workers prior to the election.

The message to all car manufacturing workers was: 'You have got nothing to fear under the coalition,' but the reality was that, when the high-vis vest and hard-hat came off and when he was sitting with his colleagues, they were looking at ripping $500 million of co-investment out of the industry, fully cognisant that that could mean the end of car manufacture in this country.

What have we seen? We have seen that the car-manufacturing industry is no more, because of the decisions of the coalition—decisions driven by the Liberal government. This is a problem for the economy generally, because, if you start ripping away high-paid, decent jobs in manufacturing, then you become more and more reliant on service-industry jobs with lower wages, casualisation and lack of rights for workers. That is what this is about. It will deskill the economy and devalue the economy. It will force wages and conditions in this country down, as we do not have a strong manufacturing base to drive wages and conditions around the country. When Abbott says that, the important thing is to remember that while some businesses close, other businesses open; while some jobs end, other jobs start. Sure! You see workers get the jobs but those jobs are much less skilled, much less well paid and much more insecure.

That is the problem that workers in the manufacturing industry have because of the economic incompetence of the coalition and the uncaring position of the coalition. The next thing you will see is further attacks on workers in the shipbuilding industry. We had shipbuilding workers feted by the opposition. Enter Senator Johnston, the now Minister for Defence, bringing the workers in and telling them that he is sympathetic to their position and that he will look to assist their position. And yet when they try to get a meeting with the same minister to talk about their job security and their future, they cannot get a meeting with the minister.

Again, it is a pattern of behaviour of the coalition: before the election they are the friends of blue-collar workers, but after the election they have no time for blue-collar workers. They do not want to know them. I am saying that the government should ensure that the shipbuilding industry—the Australian naval shipbuilding industry—is looked after in this country, that we cannot afford to lose the 4,000 skilled workers in that industry, that the government should be making decisions about building Australian ships in Australia. The government should also be making a decision to ensure Australian skills are kept here. Stop deceiving people; start looking after Australian jobs you have failed so far.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today's matter of public importance debate is yet another own-goal by the Australian Labor Party, concentrating on their greatest policy failure—namely, the economy. The unemployment statistics we are facing today are the residue—the flow-through—of six years of Labor-Greens dysfunction and incompetence.

Let us do a quick review of the unemployment statistics in this country. When we left government—I think it was in November 2007—there was a flow-through of about four months into the term of new Labor government. As a result of this flow-through, we saw unemployment continue to decline to 3.9 per cent in March 2008. Thereafter it steadily climbed. The coalition had, by the time it left office, got unemployment down below four per cent. We have now regained office, and the trajectory is heading north. In the May budget of last year—Labor's last budget—they predicted employment would be 5.75 per cent. They were budgeting for an increase in unemployment and a decrease in economic activity. In August last year, just before the federal election, Treasury put out a new assessment of unemployment. Between May and August, a period of three months, the predicted figure of 5.75 per cent had become 6.25 per cent. Unemployment went further north and economic activity further south.

So if there has been a loss of jobs—and indeed there has been—who predicted it would happen under their economic management? The Labor Party did. Yet Senator Cameron has the audacity to come into this place and say that this loss of jobs, which Labor itself budgeted for, is somehow the coalition's fault. I remind those listening that Senator Cameron used to be the national secretary of the AMWU, a union which unfortunately has a history of throwing up union bosses who have a unique capacity to ensure that they lose members their jobs. But it is not just me as a coalition minister who is saying so; former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating also said so in blaming Senator George Campbell, former secretary of the AMWU, for the loss of 100,000 manufacturing jobs in this country. You are not listening to coalition spin. You can accuse the coalition of all sorts of things, but Labor said similar things in talking about the loss of 100,000 manufacturing jobs.

Senator Cameron cried crocodile tears when he talked about Toyota and Holden. The closure of their manufacturing operations is a devastating loss to our nation—very, very disappointing. The workers who now face great uncertainty will be provided every assistance by my portfolio area to try to obtain alternative unemployment. During question time, the proposition was put to Labor: if the coalition are somehow responsible for the closure announcements by Holden and Toyota during the term to date of the new coalition government, who is to blame for the announcement by Mitsubishi and Ford of their closure during the Labor government's term? It was not Labor's fault! It must have been the coalition's fault as well, even though we were not in government at the time! The hypocrisy, the duplicity and the crocodile tears of the Labor Party are palpable, and the Australian people know it. That is why they rejected the Labor Party at the last election.

I am absolutely delighted that the Prime Minister made the title of the ministry he gave me 'Minister for Employment'. Employment is a fundamentally important social and economic activity. Government needs to create the right environment for job creation. A job is the best possible social security for any individual. We know the statistics: if you have a job, you and those in your household are likely to have better mental health, better physical health, better educational outcomes and better self-esteem. Trying to get people into jobs is the best possible social and economic policy of any government.

Having seen what Labor left us in the last budget, we said we would make jobs a top priority. That is why at the last election we developed Our plan—real solutions for all Australians to help increase employment. Our plan contained the abolition of the carbon tax which we predicted would absolutely destroy jobs in the manufacturing sector. More jobs are leaking from the manufacturing sector than from any other sector. Exactly that which we predicted is, unfortunately, unfolding before our very eyes. People are losing jobs in the manufacturing sector each and every day. Is it only because of the carbon tax? Of course it is not. But does the carbon tax make a difficult situation even worse? Absolutely it does—and everybody knows it, including those opposite. Yet when we put forward a proposal in this place to abolish the carbon tax, for which we got an absolute mandate from the Australian people in order to help create jobs, who stands in our way? The Labor-Green alliance in this place stands in our way. They are deliberately standing in the way of job creation in our nation. Senator Doug Cameron comes into this place proclaiming his support for manufacturing workers when he knows that the carbon tax he voted for—in breach of his election promise—is destroying jobs each and every day. Each and every day the carbon tax continues, more jobs will be destroyed.

In our plan to restore employment in the Australian economy we said, 'Get rid of the carbon tax.' We have got a mandate for it but those opposite, the Labor and Greens senators in this place, resent the decision of the Australian people and will stand in the way of this place giving expression to the will of the Australian people by abolishing the carbon tax. We also said we need to get rid of the mining tax, because we know the resources sector is beginning to flag, and flag very seriously. We need new projects. We need to create a willingness in the resource sector to explore in this country and develop new projects. We got a mandate to abolish the mining tax. Who stands in the way of job creation in that sector? Yet again, it is the Labor and Greens senators, who simply resent the decision of the Australian people to give the management of this nation to the coalition. We have said we wanted to get rid of red and green tape—and, yet again, no cooperation from the Labor and Greens senators in this place.

We have also said that, to get job creation happening, we have to stop the corruption, the thuggery, the intimidation and the delays on construction projects right around our nation, and therefore we have to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission—a policy we took to the 2013 election with a full three years notice. Yet again, the Labor-Greens alliance in this place, resenting the decision of the Australian people, refused to give us the opportunity of implementing our policy. Last time the Australian Building and Construction Commission was in place, there were literally billions of dollars of economic savings. Projects were coming in on time, on budget. The taxpayers' dollar was being driven so much further. We were getting more roads constructed for fewer dollars, we were getting hospitals built—more for less. Great economic drivers in a very job-rich sector.

But what does Mr Shorten want to do? He wants the construction sector to continue to be dominated by the CFMEU and the outlaw bikie gangs with which they associate. And, when confronted by this, the Labor Party's attitude is: 'Oh yeah, bikies wearing their leathers ain't a good look on these sites and in these protests. Why don't we just tell them not to wear their colours?' Forget about the characters wearing the colours, they can still go there! The characters can still go there and they can still intimidate—just as long as they don't wear their bikie colours. Really, this is Mr Shorten's vision for job creation in Australia!

We in the coalition are very serious about jobs growth. We put forward a comprehensive plan to the Australian people to grow jobs because we know the importance of jobs. It is fundamental for the household budget and for the independence of the family unit, and so vital for our future economic development, to be able to have a proper economy that underpins the services we want without having to borrow, day after day, thousands of millions of dollars from overseas—the legacy of the Australian Labor-Greens government that we are now patching up.

We had a plan. We have a plan. We put those plans to the Australian people and they endorsed those plans overwhelmingly. But what Senator Cameron did not tell us was where the biggest pockets of unemployment are. They are in the state of Tasmania and the state of South Australia. Now, I wonder what the common feature is between those two states. It would not happen to be the Labor-Greens government in Tasmania and the Labor government in South Australia? Well, yes it is. And that is why I hope the people of Tasmania and South Australia vote for job creation on 15 March by electing Will Hodgman and a majority Liberal government in Tasmania and Steven Marshall and a majority Liberal government in South Australia—so that we can work with all the states to help create the right environment for job creation. We need the states on board because this Senate, dominated as it currently is by Labor and Greens senators, simply will not allow this coalition government to implement its mandate and its plan to create jobs in this country—as I said, a plan which is vital for the social and economic development of this country, a plan that is designed to help this economy which is in transition.

Referring back to Senator Cameron's remarks, I was the shadow industry minister when Mitsubishi closed. I did not seek to throw stones at the Labor Party and blame them for it—because the company said, 'No matter what, we're leaving.' Ford said exactly the same. We did not blame Labor. Isn't it a pity that the Labor Party cannot adopt the same maturity and bipartisanship as we did when we were in opposition by acknowledging that, in a nation's economic history, certain unpalatable events occur for which a government cannot be blamed. The hypocrisy and duplicity that we witnessed at question time today! Of the four car manufacturers that this nation had, two closed under Labor, which was not at all Labor's fault; but then the next two closing under the coalition government is all the coalition's fault! I think it is that duplicity, that hypocrisy, and those crocodile tears, that tell you everything you need to know about how Labor is playing politics with jobs and job creation in this country. Labor blames us for job losses that were already well and truly in the pipeline but, most perversely, blocks the initiation of our policies that would allow jobs growth in this nation.

We believe the coalition has a great record and we will continue— (Time expired)

Lee Rhiannon (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is always interesting to follow the responsible minister, Senator Abetz in this case. We have heard him deliver yet again a speech that he is so familiar and at ease with—a speech of excuses and insults, a speech with no vision for Australia, a speech full of anti-union rhetoric and very damaging plans for Australia. He tells us that his government has a plan for this country. It is a plan that would drive down wages, see fewer jobs and make things harder for people on welfare.

Life is getting tough. What I found in January, a time when you can get out and meet more people both as part of work and at social engagements, was that the issue of jobs came up time and time again. People were concerned about their job security. If they did not have a job, they were concerned about where they would find one. But the biggest issue was the concern of parents wondering what the future for their children would be. They wondered whether there was any hope and questioned who was going to come up with a plan for the transition that Australia is currently going through, with the resources boom starting to recede. Sadly, however, we have a government that is locked into just looking after the big end of town, something that they do so well and something that Senator Abetz is well acquainted with.

Loss of jobs, the subject of this matter of public importance, is certainly a very critical issue for New South Wales, where the loss of jobs has been considerable. Over the last 13 years, the loss of manufacturing jobs in New South Wales has been enormous—more than 18 per cent. Some 53,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector. That plays out in such a damaging way.

I was recently in Smithfield, in Western Sydney, where I met people from the Latin-American community. Many people live there. I met fathers who no longer have work. They were very worried about the impact that has on their families—not just the lost income and the fact that they cannot provide for their families, as they are so obviously committed to doing, but also the implications for their role in the family and the example it sets for their children. These men came to this country with great hopes for the future for their whole family. Many of their children are in higher education. But now, at a time when they really want to be helping their children, these men are unemployed.

Another very distressed area in New South Wales is the Illawarra. I understand that, at 15.3 per cent unemployment, which is three times the national average, it has the highest unemployment rate of any region and that youth unemployment there is well over 20 per cent. I often travel by train when I am working in or visiting that area. Even sitting at the railway station, you can feel the depressing impact the high levels of unemployment are having. It is very serious. This is what the Abbott government is pushing more and more people into.

We do need a new plan. We need a big shift because this lack of vision is doing so much damage. Today we, the Greens, announced our south-east stimulus package to address the very problems this debate has at its heart: how to create jobs in our communities, whether in the outer western suburbs, in regional Australia or in rural Australia. We need that plan and we are looking very closely at what can be done in south-eastern Australia. We can achieve a skilled, clean and thriving economy.

The issue of employment needs considerable attention because, as I have just mentioned, we are in the midst of a transition. If we do not address that in a constructive way, in a planned way, we will see the loss of even more jobs. But instead we are seeing that the Abbott government's agenda, so clearly and worryingly articulated by Senator Abetz, is to drive down wages and conditions. Our stimulus package is a practical solution which can be funded from the $12 billion this government is handing out every year in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. This is at a time when much of the world is already turning its back on the coal industry and on many aspects of the fossil fuel industry more broadly. A responsible government would be planning for the transition of our economy away from reliance on those fossil fuels and towards clean energy. But instead we see a government just wanting to pour more corporate welfare into these dying industries. (Time expired)

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This new government has been a disaster for working Australians. Since the election in September, 50,000 full-time jobs have been lost. Worse, there are thousands more people set to be unemployed as a result of this government's policies and inaction. It is a government that is more concerned with attacking workers than growing jobs; a government that still thinks it is the opposition and whose agenda is to blame the previous government for everything, despite having been in charge of the country for months; a government whose purpose is to cut jobs, cut services and cut living standards for working Australians, all the while blaming workers and making it harder for people to retrain and find new opportunities; a government that went to the election promising the world on jobs—promising one million new jobs—but whose policies and inaction have seen 50,000 jobs lost in the first five months of its term; a government that promised support for programs before the election only to silently cut them while no-one was looking.

On the last point, you need look no further than the Wage Connect program, designed by the Labor government to get long-term unemployed into work. The federal government provided companies with $6,050 after they had employed an eligible job seeker for six months. This was a very successful program, run by the former government, with many thousands assisted into work. What did the new government do? They cancelled the program. In early December, the Assistant Minister for Employment, Luke Hartsuyker, cut the program despite the obvious fiscal benefits of reduced assistance payments and increased income tax receipts. Miraculously, two weeks later, the assistant minister's boss, Senator Eric Abetz, ventured up to the north-west of Tasmania and brought forward his election policy, the Tasmanian Jobs Program. The Tasmanian Jobs Program provides only $3,250 to an employer—and only to Tasmanian employers of course.

Minister Abetz claimed that halving the wage subsidy would provide a much needed boost to the Tasmanian job market. Minister Abetz is no doubt aware that his halving of the Wage Connect subsidy effectively imposes a 10 per cent increase in the cost of employing a long-term unemployed jobseeker on the minimum wage in Tasmania. Despite the rhetoric from those opposite about Australia now being 'open for business', short-term decisions like this only make it harder for businesses to put on more staff and get more Australians into work. There is no intention for the program to work. It is a trial program for two years that is halving assistance and only providing it to Tasmanian jobseekers. This political trickery is exactly what Labor warned Australians about before the election. This new government, driven solely by an agenda to cut services to working Australians and to Australians doing it tough, slashed Wage Connect in half, rebadged it, and had the gall to pat themselves on the back.

The removal of Wage Connect will have negative impacts on employment across the country. Despite their rhetoric, this government are all about making it harder for those Australians who are doing it tough. They are blaming workers, and their unions, at every turn. I am a proud member of the AMWU and was the state secretary in Tasmania for a number of years before my election to this place. A number of members of the AMWU's shipbuilding division are in Canberra today, trying to build support for the Australian shipbuilding industry. The union has put together a comprehensive plan for Australian naval shipbuilding, outlining the employment consequences if the government fails to act now.

I would like to highlight the work of Senator Carol Brown; Jane Austin, the Labor candidate for Denison; Mike Kelly, the former Minister for Defence Materiel; the AMWU; and local industry. They have all been involved in the proposal for a naval shipbuilding hub for Prince of Wales Bay near Hobart in Tasmania. The hub was to build on the tremendous work of Incat, Liferaft Systems Australia, CBG Systems and Taylor Brothers and grow the shipbuilding industry in Tasmania. Central to this proposal was a commitment from the then Labor government to procure the next round of Australian naval fleet purchases from Australian shipyards, including those in Prince of Wales Bay. So far, the new government have not committed to this plan. To the AMWU shipbuilding delegates from across the country, I welcome you to Canberra and I wish you well in your campaign to secure high-skilled shipbuilding jobs for Australian workers.

I implore government ministers to sit down with these workers, listen to their ideas and work together to sustain this industry that is vital for both our national security and our economy. To do this, government ministers need to end the blame game and stop these ridiculous attacks on workers. Unfortunately, I do not hold out much hope. On the front page of today's Australian Financial Review the Treasurer seeks to blame workers for Toyota's decision to cease manufacturing. That claim has quickly been exposed as complete fiction. Toyota's media statement, issued this morning, reads:

Toyota Australia denies the allegations in today's front page Australian Financial Review story … Toyota Australia has never blamed the union for its decision to close its manufacturing operations by the end of 2017, neither publicly or in private discussions with any stakeholders.

This is a sign of the government's desperation—they are fabricating third party statements to blame workers for their own policy failures. Rather than blame the workers and misrepresent meetings with senior management from major employers, the government should be focused on its election commitment to create one million jobs in its first term—an election commitment that is already set at negative 50,000, after a disastrous start to this government's term.

This is a government whose leader fabricated the financial circumstances of SPC Ardmona in trying to justify his reasons for turning his back on workers and farmers in Central Victoria. His own backbencher Dr Sharman Stone denounced the Prime Minister's attack on the workers. The company released a statement refuting each of Mr Abbott's claims point by point. One of his claims, that the workers were paid a wet places allowance and that this payment was overgenerous, showed his complete lack of understanding of Australian enterprise. This payment, of a few cents an hour, was paid when an employee provided their own uniform because their clothes were wet for a significant period. As the company has disclosed, a number of years ago the decision was made to provide the workers with appropriate clothing, and this wet places allowance has not been paid for some time.

It is easy to blame the workers. Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey and Senator Abetz are getting good at it. But, as this government is discovering, it is much harder to put in place policies that actually create jobs in Australia. Or at least it is hard to not be completely hypocritical when doing so. In the lead-up to last year's election, both SPC Ardmona and Simplot approached the government and the opposition for co-investment assistance for their operations in Shepparton, Bathurst and Devonport respectively. The then Labor government sat down with both companies and worked out packages that would see significant investments by both industry and government in upgrading facilities. Of course, the opposition made no such commitment.

However, the line in the sand had not yet been drawn. During the election campaign, the now Prime Minister visited Cadbury's chocolate factory in Hobart, a site with a significant AMWU membership, to announce a $16 million co-investment promise. One of the purposes of this co-investment was to 'increase chocolate production to 70,000 tonnes a year.' Of course I welcomed this announcement; I welcomed investment in the Claremont site and the government's support for the workforce. But this announcement came out of the blue. There was no immediate concern about Cadbury closing up. There was no immediate investment required to modernise the factory to save jobs. The then Opposition Leader was rejoicing at the expected increased production at the factory, while the Liberal candidate for Braddon, Mr Brett Whiteley, took to social media with a Cadbury chocolate bar to highlight the extra demand for milk and the resulting boon expected for Tasmanian dairy farmers. Clearly this grant, this election commitment, was about increasing production at the chocolate factory—not tourism.

After the decision on providing assistance to SPC Ardmona, the Prime Minister was asked why Cadbury's was more deserving of government funding. His response was that the funding was to build tourism infrastructure at the site; it was different because it was a tourism grant. This comes from a Prime Minister that has abolished the tourism ministry and slashed the tourism infrastructure grants established by the previous government to assist small and medium tourism enterprises; this comes from a Prime Minister whose parliamentary secretary with responsibility for tourism has been given the job of ending federal government involvement in the domestic tourism industry. Rather than blaming workers, this government needs to outline exactly how it is going to meet its promise of creating one million new jobs. (Time expired)

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today's MPI reads:

The decisions of the Abbott Government that have led to the loss of more than 50,000 jobs in the past five months.

It seems to me that probably the first thing we need to do is establish the validity of such a comment. What facts is this based on? At this stage, we have no idea what the change in the employment numbers is going to be over the forward period. If we look at the figures that are currently around, for the last five months, there is every reason to think that particular statement is based entirely on political motives and has nothing to do with the facts. If I wanted to sit here and list the reasons I refute it, I would probably need about three hours. I contest that this statement is a false, baseless and cheap political stunt.

Let us start with the facts. Fact: since September 2013, employment has fallen by 5,500 jobs, not 50,000. Fact: market expectations are that the January employment figures will see an increase in employment of 15,000 jobs—although I do accept that we do not know until we see the actual figures; they are sometimes subject to some level of fluctuation and uncertainty. Fact: Labor's pre-election economic statement budgeted for an increase in the unemployment rate to 6.25 per cent. Fact: the December unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent. Fact: under Labor, one manufacturing job was lost every19 minutes. The basic fact underlying all this is the overregulated, overtaxed environment that has been created over the last period of time, and that is the main reason for the lack of business confidence and why we are seeing, as a consequence, the unsatisfactory employment figures. We admit that any fall in employment is an unsatisfactory result. But these figures are not a reflection of the last couple of months. Anybody sitting opposite, even those who are shaking their heads, has to admit that there is a lag in the marketplace. Anybody who suggests that any employment losses have occurred because of a knee-jerk reaction to something that happened yesterday is living entirely in fairyland.

Let us look at some of the policy examples that have had a major impact on business and of course jobs. Let us look at the minerals resource rent tax. In my home state of South Australia, the home state of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, who is at the table, BHP Billiton made the decision last year not to continue with the expansion of their mine at Roxby Downs. At the time they certainly did not blame the minerals resource rent tax, but it has to be the combination of the environment that they found themselves in and the sovereign risk that this country is exposed to—

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It doesn't apply to what they mine.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by the actions and policies of the government—

Senator Wong interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, it doesn't apply.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The fact of the matter is that the sovereign risk environment in which international businesses found themselves in Australia is the fundamental reason, we believe, and I certainly believe, that the confidence businesses had to proceed was such that they did not proceed. We can talk about whether or not it was exactly the minerals resource rent tax—and I point out that I did acknowledge that that was not specifically the reason, that the minerals resource rent tax did not necessarily apply to it, before I was interjected on. But the fact of the matter is that it creates a sovereign risk environment that makes it very difficult for international businesses to invest in Australia—because the reasons just do not stack up—when they have opportunities to invest elsewhere.

Then there is the carbon tax. One can hardly stand here without mentioning the carbon tax. There has been a 0.3 per cent decrease in carbon emissions since the carbon tax was introduced at a cost of $7 billion to the Australian economy. Now, nobody can tell me on the basis of that result that the introduction of a carbon tax to our economy has been successful. That is $7 billion to achieve very little and $7 billion taken out of the economy. It does not stack up that it is going to be good for jobs. So let us be realistic about why these things are happening.

The topic of the moment is of course the car industry and the decisions by Holden and, more recently, Toyota to close their doors, which I assume is the reason why we have this MPI today. The fact of the matter is that, for every car, there was an increase in the cost of production by $400 completely and utterly as a direct result of the introduction of the carbon tax. Whilst $400 might not have been the straw that broke the camel's back, it certainly would not have helped, because it was just another cost burden added to the business when they are trying to be competitive in the global market that is the car industry.

I think it is totally ridiculous to blame the Abbott government for the potential loss of jobs in this industry and for car manufacturing moving offshore from Australia in the near future, particularly when, in an article in The Australian, the head of GM's international operations is quoted as saying:

It is impossible to build cars in Australia competitively and no amount of government incentives could have saved Holden …

That really does suggest to me that Mr Stefan Jacoby was not of the belief that the Abbott government had in any way influenced their decision to leave Australia. He went on to say:

'I initiated this decision as the leader of these markets and it was driven purely by business rationale, and not by any direction this government or any future government would give for their auto industry in Australia,' …

The funds could not add up regardless of the level of public funds involved, he said.

So, quite obviously, Mr Jacoby and Holden did not believe that the Abbott government was to blame for the loss of any jobs in the car industry.

The promises made by previous governments in funding the automotive industry were that the funding was going to increase jobs. We have seen so much money poured into the automotive industry and we have not seen an increase in jobs. So I think to suggest that the decisions made by the Abbott government have in any way affected the decision of Holden, or Toyota for that matter, is completely ridiculous.

By way of an example of the cost of doing business in Australia and the overregulated and overburdened market that businesses find themselves in, a company I was talking to today said that it cost them $2 million annually just to comply with the ACCC. There are certain requirements with the ACCC which no-one would ever suggest that they do not need to comply with, but a $2 million burden on a business is an awful lot of money straight off the bottom line. So I would suggest that the best thing we can do as a government to ensure the long-term sustainability of business and industry and that everybody in Australia who can have a job does have a job is to actually get out of their way. Subsidies, protection, regulation and interference in the marketplace are not the answer, because the fact of the matter is that the market is the best and most efficient mechanism there is to deliver an outcome.

The Abbott government promised the people that we would do a number of things to assist business. We promised to repeal the carbon tax, we promised to repeal the minerals resource rent tax and we promised to reduce the regulatory burden by having dedicated days of repeal in this place. The problem is that those opposite have yet to accept the fact that on 7 September 2013 the Australian people elected an Abbott government, believing that an Abbott government would do these things. The Abbott government wants to do these thing but those opposite seem to have forgotten about the fact that they did not win the election and that the current government has a mandate to do these things. I think it is time that those opposite realised that the people of Australia actually have the right to expect that the things that they voted for are carried out in this place.

The public of Australia elected us all to get on with the job of governing this country, and stupid and spurious comments such as 'the Abbott government has caused the loss of 50,000 jobs in the past five months' do nothing to increase the level of confidence that the Australian public have in us and in this place. The best thing that we can do is to let business get on with the job of running the economy. Guess what. They do a much better job of running business than we do, or can ever hope to do. We should be constructive and helpful and stop wasting everybody's time with these baseless and silly statements. We should get on with growing the economy so that everybody in Australia can have a job.

John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Innovation'—that is the buzz word here on both sides of the house, as our manufacturing sector potentially enters its death throes. 'Business needs to innovate,' we heard from the opposition when it was in government. 'We need more innovation in business,' we hear from the government as another car manufacturer pulls up stumps and announces its intention to leave our shores. But there is one group of people who are failing to innovate, and it is the group of people sitting on both sides of this chamber and in the other place. You are incredibly good at attributing blame. The government today quoted how many jobs were lost during the previous government's term. Well, I think the current government has a pretty good score on that issue also.

What has been done and what is being done in terms of innovation? All I have heard so far are bandaid statements. I want to hear from all of you what your grand plan is and how you are going to respond while our manufacturers potentially die. And what about the previous government? You had plenty of experience in job losses also. Where are your answers? When the current government was in opposition, surely it had the luxury of time to come up with one or two ideas to answer our current crisis. In my view, both sides of the Senate are fiddling while Rome burns. While you are both currently prevaricating and bickering, the banks will be looking, for example, at components manufacturers and their ability to keep up the repayments on their mortgages and on their equipment.

Go and ask any farmer how 'understanding' the bloody banks are when 'the proverbial' hits the fan—poor commodity prices, drought, fire and flood. Ask farmers what it is like when they are told by us: 'We're looking into it. We'll help you.' Of course, we have got complicated assistance packages for farmers. I bet we will get complicated assistance packages for the manufacturers and their employees when they find themselves in a terrible position. It will not be easy, it will not be simple, it will not be quick and it will not come fast enough. But you can be sure of one thing: it will be unbelievably bureaucratic. Instead of blaming workers, instead of blaming the unions and instead of blaming each other, why don't you people practise what you preach and innovate support and encouragement for our manufacturing sector and the families who are now thinking about the crisis that they are potentially facing? Why don't you come up with some quick and effective ways to respond to the current crisis?

Federal and state governments need to get together now—but not to come up with more pie charts, more ledgers and more motherhood statements. We need an action plan and we need it now. We are talking about people here: Australian workers, Australian small and medium business owners—people who have invested their life's work and effort into their businesses. They often say to me that their most valuable asset is the people working for them. The decision to sack is not made lightly, easily or flippantly. Don't think because it will happen in 2016 or 2017 that the tsunami is not already on its way. It is already having an effect on families and businesses, such as the working people in the western suburbs of Melbourne and across Victoria and elsewhere. These are some of the unseen people—the nightshift workers and the 60-hour-a-week labourers. Whacking on a hard hat, safety glasses and a hi-vis vest and then shedding crocodile tears does not cut the mustard.

Here is a novel idea: how many of you here have consciously gone out this week to buy something Australian? How many? How many of you just assume a product is Australian made, or do you make the effort to call up and ask whether a product is Australian made?' The problems our manufacturers face are partially attributable to successive governments of all persuasions. Just get on with it and stop bleating about it.

Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So 50,000 jobs have gone since the election of the Abbott government. This is a government who said they were open for business, who said they wanted to cut red and green tape, and who made a promise of one million new jobs. All they have done is cut the jobs of Australian workers. The Abbott government has no idea how to run an economy which supports jobs, our living standards and vulnerable people in our communities. Not only that, the Abbott government does not understand the nature of the jobs in our economy, or the level of their complexity, and that we dumb down our economy when we allow the car manufacturing industry to collapse and other industries, which rely on complex technologies, to just disappear. The Abbott government is asleep at the wheel when it comes to jobs.

In the car industry, Holden was goaded out of the country by Treasurer Hockey, and, now, Toyota has announced that they will close Australian manufacturing by 2017. But the PM has told us not to worry and that workers will go 'from good jobs to better jobs'. When pushed on that question, the Prime Minister of our country had no idea where those better jobs might come from. Undeterred, the Abbott government then went on to blame the workers and their unions for negotiating wages and conditions. It shows their complete ignorance about how the Fair Work laws work in this country when employers and employees sit down, bargain, negotiate and come up with an agreement. But again, despite not being asked, the Abbott government went on to try and interfere in SPC, Holden and Toyota by asking whether they needed help negotiating. Well, actually, no they do not; and none of those companies blamed their workforce.

Still undeterred, the Abbott government last week, and the week before, went on and on about the outrageous wages and conditions in the SPC agreement, telling us that 'the age of entitlement was long gone'. And guess what? They got the SPC agreement wrong. But they will not admit that they made a mistake and they will not apologise. They just keep steadfastly moving on, with their blinkers well and truly on, about how to read an agreement—in fact, how to read the right agreement.

Yesterday in this place I had the pleasure of meeting with Australian Metal Workers Union delegates who came to tell us about the shipbuilding industry. They are great delegates who are experts on the shipbuilding industry and proud members of the union. Again, the Abbott government is completely asleep at the wheel when it comes to shipbuilding. There has been no action yet on the white paper. We have 4,000 jobs and a technical, complex and highly skilled workforce in that industry. What are we going to do—just buy ships from overseas? Are we going to let that industry go the way of the car making industry? That would seem to be the case to me because the Abbott government does not understand jobs, does not understand our economy and does not understand the complex technologies required in many of these jobs. It wants to see a dumbed down economy where it can control the workers and keep wages at poverty levels.

Well, guess what. All the research says that is not how you build a smart economy. We are still waiting to see the beginning of the million jobs. In fact, it is more than that now if you deduct what we are losing in this country. The shipbuilding delegates have some good ideas. They are the experts in their sector. Why don't you sit down and meet with them, have a look at the white paper they have put together about their sector, and make sure that, into the future, we retain highly skilled workers in this country, are ahead of our game and have a government, unlike the Abbott government, who absolutely understands how important skilled jobs are to our economy. The Abbott government is asleep at the wheel and has no understanding.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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