Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) 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 Abbott Government's presiding over the highest unemployment rate since 2002 and the highest number of unemployed Australians since 1994.

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.

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

We now see an appalling statistic on unemployment rates in Australia, from a government that promised to do much better, a government that made outlandish promises about good government, about jobs and about the economy. But we have seen quite the opposite. In fact, when I think about the election of the Abbott government and the time since that election, it is hard to put my finger on any success the Abbott government has had with the economy, with job creation or with anything at all. The statistics that came out recently are an absolute disgrace and need to be highlighted in this place. All we hear from the Abbott government is the opposite. But the statistics are the statistics. We now have the highest unemployment figure in Australia since 1994. In fact, 6.3 per cent of Australians are now unemployed, and my home state of Western Australia is now setting the record across the nation, particularly for youth unemployment, which I will talk about in a few minutes.

Despite what the Abbott government might say, they have presided over the biggest increases in unemployment. It is 6.3 per cent. Where are the jobs they promised? Where are those jobs? When the government was first elected we heard nothing else. They went on day in, day out, about a million jobs. But we just have not seen those jobs. In fact, on their statistics, on their record, we are a long way behind that. The Abbott government also goes on and on about productivity and job creation, but that rhetoric has failed to see any reality; it has failed to make any dent in the unemployment rate. We now have the highest number of unemployed Australians since 1994.

If we look at Western Australia and at youth unemployment, the Abbott government's record has been quite appalling. First they tried to punish young people who were unemployed by putting in their first budget that unemployment benefits should be held back for six months. Yet the national unemployment rate for young people is 13.3 per cent. The Abbott government is now creating a generation of unemployed people. These are young people with their futures before them, yet when it comes to the most basic entitlement—to a job—they cannot seem to get employment. In Mandurah, in the southern suburbs of Perth, in the seat of Canning, the youth unemployment rate is 14.3. per cent. In Mandurah, in the seat of Canning, 14.3 per cent of young people cannot get a job. And what was the Abbott government's response? 'Well, we'll just keep you off unemployment benefits for six months.'

We heard people opposite, Abbott government members of parliament, for some reason blaming those young people. We heard that they needed to be punished, that we needed to be hard on them. Well, the jobs just are not there. The fact that the Abbott government is presiding, in the seat of Canning, over a youth unemployment rate of 14.3 per cent is an absolute disgrace. And what do we hear from them? Nothing but rhetoric about how somehow the trickle-down effect is going to create jobs for these young people. So far it has absolutely failed, and the trickle-down effect will not help 14.3. per cent of young unemployed people in the seat of Canning, with their whole futures before them, into employment. That just does not work.

The last time we heard any comment on the unemployment statistics from the Abbott government—I have not heard from them recently about the big increase to 6.3 per cent—was when there was a 0.1 per cent drop. Senator Abetz was out there claiming this massive success, back in April this year, when he described that slight increase—which was really a seasonal adjustment and nothing more—as encouraging. Is that the best we can get from the Minister for Employment—to describe a seasonally adjusted figure, which really meant nothing, as encouraging? If a 0.1 per cent increase in a seasonally adjusted figure is encouraging, then a two per cent increase in unemployment since that date must be an absolute disgrace. You cannot say that something as miniscule as 0.1 per cent is encouraging and then be completely silent on a two per cent increase. A two per cent increase is a disgrace.

And what else have we heard from the Abbott government? Let us look at their record, because their rhetoric does not match their record. In fact, since they have been elected, it is very clear that the Abbott government has no idea how to create jobs in this country, because, what have they done? One of the first things they did, with the support of the cross bench in this place, was to freeze superannuation payments. Then they had the gall to say, over and over again, that the money that would normally come from the employer to go towards employer contributions would end up in workers' pockets. They were on the public record as saying that. The only pocket that money has ended up in is the employers' pockets. It certainly has not gone to employees' pockets.

What have they done for low-income Australians, particularly low-income working women? Well, they knocked off the superannuation supplement. Remember that. When in government we brought it in to support people, mainly women, in their retirement. That has gone. So it is another cut to the retirement income of low-income Australians.

This week, and today and in the chamber, we have shipbuilders, members of the AMWU, lobbying here. They are lobbying for the Abbott government to keep the promise that submarines would be built in South Australia. No matter how they want to dress it up, that promise has been broken. Shipbuilders will lose their jobs—in fact, some of those men today have lost their jobs. Building ships overseas does not create more jobs in Australia. Then, despite his denial, we had Senator Abetz showing callous disregard and contempt for the Hutchison Ports workers when he endorsed their sacking at midnight via text. All he had to do today in question time was acknowledge that to send somebody a text at midnight and tell them they were sacked—men and women, working Australians—is not on. It is not treating those workers with respect. But, no, he tried to defend that today and to pretend that it was all up to the Fair Work umpire. Those were his words. If that is how you normally talk to your employer, then getting a text at midnight is okay. But it is not okay, and it shows once again how out of step this government is. It is not okay to send somebody a text at midnight and tell them they are sacked.

But, of course, the Abbott government has form on the waterfront. Remember Peter Reith and his callous disregard for waterfront workers. That is being repeated again. We should applaud well-paying jobs in this country, because that means people lead decent lives and they can prepare for their retirement. But, no, all we have seen under this government is the callous disregard for workers who earn a decent living and can provide for themselves, and an attack on the low-paid.

Just last week the Productivity Commission released its report. The Abbott government from day 1 has wanted to abolish penalty rates, and that is what the PC is recommending for some of Australia's workers. What do we have? We have the Prime Minister coming out in support of a reduction in penalty rates.

The other point in there is this kind of freezing of the minimum wage. Again, it just shows the Abbott government's complete disregard for and complete misunderstanding of workers in this country—to attack the lowest paid and say that it is okay for penalty rates to be reduced. Well, perhaps they do not understand that reducing penalty rates reduces take-home pay. Despite Mr Hockey's rhetoric to Australian workers a few months ago to 'get a good job with good pay', we see that as unacceptable for waterfront workers, for MUA members— (Time expired)

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise and speak on this MPI because it is indeed a matter of public importance—the issue of jobs for both mature-age workers and for young people all around this country. I just want to make a couple of remarks up-front about the attitude of senators opposite.

Senator Lines has just highlighted the reluctance to address the issues that cause displacement and unemployment for so many people. She has just accused the coalition of having no understanding and no empathy. How about Mr Martin Ferguson, one of the heroes of the Labor Party and the union movement here in Australia. In regard to penalty rates on Sundays, he says, 'It is wrong to say that people absolutely depend on these penalties, because the way we are going they, the workers, might have the penalties in their awards but they might not have a job, because industry can no longer operate under the existing framework.'

So, how can the Labor Party sit there and make comments that close down any discussion about changing the issues that are actually causing the unemployment, when the heroes of their own side of politics have recognised that some of those fundamental conditions need to change if we are to see young people and more mature workers in work.

I want to talk a little bit about the unemployment rate. Again, Senator Lines has talked about this going up to 6.3 per cent. Statistics are wonderful things, but they can also be misleading. The ABC is generally no friend of the coalition, but I note that on the ABC's website, Michael Janda, a business reporter, said:

The reason why unemployment jumped despite much better-than-expected jobs growth is that the participation rate soared 0.3 percentage points to 65.1 per cent.

'Soared' being the term he used. Because unemployment data is all about the population you are measuring, and your comparison, you can get quite misleading figures. So for those who are saying this is outrageous because it is a two per cent jump, I just want to make the point that there are some underlying factors about things, like the participation rate, that despite, in the ABC's words, 'much better-than-expected jobs growth', we see a rise in the figure. That is not to decry the importance of unemployment for those people who are affected by it. The coalition is quite seized of that fact, which is why we are taking a number of measures to ensure that this government creates an environment where jobs are created.

Let us go to one of the commitments of the Prime Minister at the election. He said he wanted to be the 'infrastructure Prime Minister'. In South Australia, we have seen this government commit $428 million to the north-south corridor, creating, for the Torrens Road to Torrens River part of that project, some 480 jobs per year during the construction phase and, for the Darlington Interchange, some 370 jobs during the construction phase.

In the Defence space, members opposite are saying that this is all dreadful and that we are presiding over high unemployment, but they are not acknowledging that, when they were in government, the $16 billion that they cut out of the budget for Defence—which in my state is one of the largest industry sectors—resulted in a 10 per cent contraction of the workforce in the defence industry. This government, in contrast, is boosting funding. We have brought forward funding to start addressing some of the remedial issues for catching up on defence bases and equipment that needed remedial work, and we have brought forward announcements just this last week about future shipbuilding. We are bringing particular projects forward, like the future Pacific patrol boat project, the future frigate project and the offshore patrol vessel project. This $89 billion investment is going to keep some 2½ thousand jobs sustainable into the future.

Let us look at mining. South Australia has great potential for minerals. We were hoping that the Olympic Dam expansion would provide great benefit to South Australia—literally thousands upon thousands of jobs. But why didn't that happen? Why didn't that go ahead? Well, the environmental impact statement was lodged in May 2009 but the decision did not come back until October 2011, by which time a number of things, like commodities prices, had changed. In 2012 BHP decided to defer that whole project and seek a cheaper way of extracting the copper. What else happened in 2012? It was the commencement of the carbon tax put in place by the Labor government. Olympic Dam mine is the largest consumer of electricity in South Australia. Electricity is the second-highest cost of extracting copper in a copper mine. The carbon tax which was brought in, starting in 2012 at $23 a tonne, was forecast by Labor's own figures to go up to $350 a tonne by 2050, which would be right in the productive part of that mine's life. Is it any wonder that BHP decided they would not go ahead with the plan and would seek a cheaper option? The policies that the Labor government put in place and are still seeking to bring back in—as we saw at their national conference—are job-destroying policies.

What is this government doing? We have got rid of the carbon tax. We are committed to having a low-cost, low-impact way of abating carbon. Importantly, we are also about getting rid of the duplication in things like environmental approvals so that we can see projects up and running more quickly, which means greater investment and greater job opportunities. To July this year, there have been, under this government, 173 final approvals, which represents nearly $1 trillion worth of major projects that will occur in Australia, which means huge numbers of jobs.

We are also looking at things like the Next Generation Manufacturing Investment Program. In my state of South Australia, this is part of the $155 million growth fund that the federal government has committed to helping people adjust from the auto sector. As Mike Devereux, head of GM, and GM themselves, said, the decision to close down their Australian operations was nothing to do with Australian government policy; it was a decision out of Detroit. But our response has been to find those companies that are innovative in their manufacturing methods, who have the potential to capture export markets, and to help them grow their capacity—companies like Seeley International, Ahrens engineering and Levett Engineering. Seeley, who are innovative in air-conditioning technology, now export around the world. Ahrens engage in large agricultural and commercial building construction. Levett produce high-technology advanced manufacturing parts for the Joint Strike Fighter engine. We are supporting those people to create hundreds of sustainable jobs in South Australia.

This government already has signed up to free trade agreements with Japan, Korea and now China. Those free trade agreements are going to bring huge numbers of jobs and opportunities, and yet again the Labor Party is opposing the China free trade agreement, which stands to benefit thousands of Australians in terms of work. This government is creating the environment whereby we can see people invest in this country, see export opportunities and create jobs—and the sticking point is those opposite. They come in here with an MPI that says that this government is presiding over high unemployment, when it is partly the way statistics are measured but significantly we are repairing the damage that has been caused by the ALP in the past and that they continue to inflict, through things like their opposition to the China free trade agreement, and that they plan to inflict in the future, with their plans to reimpose the kind of $209 per tonne cost on carbon which is going to impact on jobs.

We can look at their own heroes, people like Martin Ferguson—and Mr Acting Deputy President Smith, I realise you have written about this recently—on the subject of the Productivity Commission report about the factors that affect the ability of Australian companies to employ people. Rather than have a sensible, mature discussion about it, the first thing that the Labor Party and the unions want to do is to have a fear campaign and shut down discussion. But, as Mr Ferguson said, to dismiss the report out of hand would only be to the detriment of workers. If we want more people in work, I would call on the members opposite to listen to people who are heroes in their own organisation, like Mr Martin Ferguson, so we can have the discussion to continue our reforms, to continue our measures, whether it is productivity reforms, infrastructure investment, refining environmental approvals, getting rid of carbon taxes or creating things like free trade agreements. The coalition is about creating the environment and the capacity for Australians to invest and to employ, which creates jobs for future generations.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this important MPI in relation to job creation. The government once again, true to form, have an incredibly last-century view of jobs and job creation. Where is their support for job creation and new jobs in the new clean economy? Where is their support for renewable energy jobs? Where is their job for green manufacturing jobs?

Where is their support for ecotourism jobs? Where is their support for jobs in agriculture and the Great Barrier Reef, which are huge employers and which are under threat from climate change? Where is their support for jobs in science and innovation? We know science funding is at record low levels under this government. Where is their support for technology and medical innovations?

Let's start with the carbon price. In the lead-up to the election, the Abbott government said that the carbon price was a job-destroyer, that every job would be decimated and that the repeal would create jobs. Let's look at the figures. Unemployment averaged 5.7 per cent during the two years that we had the carbon price and it is now 6.3 per cent. So the unemployment rate is actually higher now that we do not have a carbon price. Again, that demonstrates the complete false rhetoric of Mr Abbott and his government. Similarly, economic growth was at five per cent under the carbon price and under this government it has been 3.8 per cent. So much for the carbon price being a job-destroyer and an economic handbrake—quite the contrary. This government still fails to realise that an ambitious climate target will create new employment and investment opportunities right across the economy. The old energy industry has already started that irreversible decline and we can at least start to create those new jobs of the future while we help to support and retrain those workers and transition them into the inevitable clean energy jobs of the future.

On renewable energy jobs, there are already many more people employed in renewable energy generation than there are in coal generation. And we are only at the beginning of this transition—this transition that this government is doing all it can to withstand. Globally, renewable energy jobs are growing at 18 per cent a year. Australia is missing out big time on that growth opportunity and we have some of the best renewable resources in the world. What a wonderful opportunity for us to capitalise on our natural advantage and create employment and prosperity whilst also tackling global warming.

Instead, during the uncertainty that this government created with their review of the renewable energy target—a review by a climate sceptic even though an actual review by the actual appropriate independent statutory authority had just been completed—during that complete debacle, the freeze meant that 2,300 jobs in renewables were lost. That is 15 per cent of the workforce. We have a government that claims to care about jobs. Well, they only care about dirty jobs; they do not care about the jobs of the future or clean energy jobs. Yet, we know that that transition is already on.

Sadly, there has been a 32 per cent reduction in coalmining employment. I say 'sadly' because this government has not planned for that transition. We are seeing mass sackings by big coalmining companies and the government has not done the work to make sure that those people are re-employable and transitioned into other work, perhaps rehabilitation, perhaps renewable energy generation—the skills for which those workers have. This government is happy to let the coalmining industry turf them out on their rear ends. It is a huge missed opportunity. We should be protecting the jobs of today and the jobs of the future by taking action on global warming. Sadly, that is all the time allotted to me. Thanks.

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

I take the view that this debate is a long overdue debate in this place. We have had all the rhetoric and all the slogans from the coalition on jobs. And we have seen the Prime Minister in the last week or so suddenly discover there is a problem with jobs in South Australia. That is why he went to South Australia. He has made more promises in South Australia about shipbuilding; before the election, he was in South Australia making promises about submarines. The problem for this government is that nobody believes them on jobs, nobody believes them on the environment, nobody believes them on tax and nobody believes them on any of the issues that are important to the Australian people. That is clear as you read the polls every week that say how bad this government is going. It is simply reflecting the lies and the misrepresentations that were given to the Australian public prior to the last election.

Look at their documents—and I bet not too many coalition members carry this one around with them, this crazy document, Our Plan—realsolutions for all Australians. There is the Treasurer, Joe Hockey, on the front page looking as if somebody has stolen his wallet, and he has looked like that ever since he became Treasurer of this country. He has been one of the worst Treasurers we have ever seen. He brought down a budget that did nothing for unemployment. He brought down a budget that did nothing for the social welfare of this country. He brought down a budget that was overwhelmingly rejected by this country. No wonder he looks so sad and so out of touch in Real solutions for all Australians, because I think he might have been pondering: 'What's going to happen if I get the job? I don't have any answers.' It is clear that he does not have any answers.

Look at this document and the issue of jobs. On page 33, they talk about 'delivering more jobs, higher wages and higher living standards'. We have had them preside over the highest unemployment rate since 2002 and the highest number of unemployed Australians since 1994. So they are not delivering on more jobs, higher wages and higher living standards. They said they would deliver two million new jobs over the next decade. I can tell you they will never do that because they will not be in government to do it. The Australian public have had a gutful of them, a gutful of the lies, a gutful of the misrepresentation and a gutful of the chaos that is there everyday in this government. It is one crisis after another in the Abbott government.

They said that they would be a grown-up government. Yet, only a few months into government, we saw chaos and the position where the Prime Minister was going to be necked by his own backbench only six months ago. He wanted six months to improve things. Well he hasn't improved anything for the unemployed. He hasn't improved anything on the environment. He hasn't improved anything on policy issues. We are still getting the same mindless rhetoric, the same promises that are broken day in day out from a government that does not know how to govern, does not know what it is doing and has got no idea what is in the interests of ordinary Australian families and the unemployed in this country.

They said they would help the unemployed and get young people into a job on page 33 of this so-called 'Real Solutions.' What was their answer to getting young people into a job? The first budget said: 'Take them off the dole for six months. Starve them for six months. Don't give them any means of looking after themselves for six months—that will get them into a job.' How crazy is that sort of approach?

They have now decided: 'Well, we can starve them for a month,' which in reality, if you go through all the processes, will be five weeks with no money. So the unemployed will get nothing for five weeks under this government and, if you are talking about getting the unemployed into jobs, you don't starve them. You actually give them skills. You actually give them training. You give them hope. You give them opportunity. You don't take penal action against them, and that is what this government is all about.

This government is about trying to demonise the unemployed. It set about all the austerity provisions in its first budget and it has had to retreat from there. What is a mature government, if you cannot get even your first budget through the parliament. You are into your second budget, and still major provisions in the first budget have not gone through parliament, because they are unfair and they are unacceptable to the Australian public. They are unacceptable to the opposition.

These are the problems we have. You just cannot go out and make promise after promise after promise like building the submarines in South Australia, like not cutting the ABC, like creating more jobs. You don't have the capacity or the wherewithal to deliver, and that is the problem. You don't have the vision. You don't have the people. You don't have the expertise to deliver as a government, and that is why we have got the highest unemployment since 2002.

What you do is you wreck the opportunity for jobs by cutting back on CSIRO, by cutting back on renewable energy—the jobs of the future—where many of the jobs that would be displaced in manufacturing could then be taken up in renewable energy. That requires more research and development. That needs a better scientific base. It means more work on high-quality research. What is this government doing? It cuts our research capacity in the CSIRO. How is that going to create jobs and a smart economy?

It waxes lyrical about free trade agreements, as if this is some great thing that they have done: they have delivered on free trade agreements. All the analysis I have seen on free trade agreements over many years is that the rhetoric never comes true in terms of what the promises are. I asked the Parliamentary Library: On all the free trade agreements we have, can you tell me what the benefits are in jobs? Can you tell me if the increase in GDP that was analysed in those free trade agreements has ever come to fruition?' They said, 'No, we can't tell you.' It just does not work.

What have they done now on the Chinese free trade agreement? What they have said for the first time ever—

Senator O'Sullivan interjecting—

And you can harp—Senator O'Sullivan can yell all he likes, but from the National Party, who have just displayed their lack of competence, their lack—

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Doormats!

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

Senator O'Sullivan, you said doormats—that is exactly what you are; they are even calling themselves doormats, because it is unequivocally the position that you are the doormats.

Let's go to the China free trade agreement. For the first time ever there is going to be a thing called concessional 457 visas that extends these visas to semiskilled workers—never been in a free trade agreement before that semiskilled Chinese workers can come into Australia.

They are putting infrastructure facilitation agreements in and they have surrendered rights to alter them to China. You cannot alter that unless China agrees. Investment and employment restrictions have been relaxed, target sectors extended, checks and balances overlooked and unions excluded from ensuring that we get proper employment provisions.

Labor market testing has been abandoned so, if you have got the skills, the ability and the wish to do a job, then they are not included in this agreement. You do not look after them; you are looking after Chinese employment before Australian employment. Mandatory skilled assessment for safety has been removed. Unreciprocated generous holiday visas are offered to 5,000 Chinese—nothing like that for Australians going into China.

So the deal has got real problems in a whole range of areas. That is not going to create the jobs for the future. The government has no idea about jobs. It has got no idea about anything other than economic theory that says: if you reduce wages and conditions, you will create more jobs. You don't have the tools. You don't have the capacity. You don't have the knowledge. You don't have the will to create jobs. You are a job-free zone, this government, so let's go from that point— (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is one thing that we all agree on in this chamber and that is that we need more jobs. We particularly need more jobs for young people. We need more jobs for older members of the community. Unfortunately, what we have heard from Senator Cameron and delivered when we came into government was a shocking situation which this government, of course, is moving very, very actively to address.

Let me tell you just in terms of new jobs: 163,000 new jobs from the beginning of this year; 23,000 new jobs per month. Since the coalition came into government, well over 333,800 new jobs have been created But that is not enough. It is absolutely not enough. Senator Moore makes this point in her MPI, as do others who have spoken. We are out there and we are working hard.

Where do most jobs occur in this economy, and where are the new jobs going to come, particularly for the young, particularly for the long-term unemployed, particularly for older people and particularly in rural and regional areas? You know as well as I do, Acting Deputy President Smith—since you have spoken on this recently yourself—that it is in the small and middle sector. It is not in government employment and it is not in large corporations' employment; it is in the small business sector. What did we have in this last budget due to the excellent work of Minister Billson? It was the initiatives, of course, that we are seeing now: a 1½ per cent drop in the company tax rate for small business and the opportunity for small businesses to invest up to $20,000 in individual income-generating and revenue-generating initiatives—and we are already starting to see the benefits of this.

What are we seeing in the skills development area, particularly in our own state, where, as we know, the big development projects were always coming to a conclusion? Those of us who travelled the other day to Gorgon and Wheatstone included Senator Lines; Senator Sterle; Ms MacTiernan, the member for Perth; and several others. We saw in the case of the Gorgon project that it is 90 per cent complete now and Wheatstone is 65 per cent complete. I remind those unfamiliar that these are jointly $80 billion combined projects. I am going to come back to that in a few moments because of some of the actions of the more feral unions.

We are seeing now as a result of the initiatives of the coalition government, in the mining sector alone in Western Australia, 4,800 apprenticeship commencements and 36,600 apprentices in training. We are seeing now, for example, in WA alone, through the new Australian Apprenticeship Support Network across Western Australia 41 sites, including outreach sites, already in place in Durack and in O'Connor particularly, in those areas where we know there will be a demand. This is what this government is doing. It is focusing on skills development. It is focusing on training opportunities for young people. It is, for example, focusing on the trade loan scheme, which is not $5,000 for a few tools that is paid once but is a $20,000 loan program. It is fair to say that there has not been an enormous take-up—I think about 2½ thousand alone in our state—but I will tell you what has happened as a result of the initiatives of the coalition government: many of the young apprentices have stayed on to complete their apprenticeships. And how vitally important is that?

I will come for a moment to the all-too-predictable response the other day to the Productivity Commission's report, when they addressed a number of issues. The first one I will speak about is greenfields agreements—in other words, agreements that should last for the length of the project. What are we seeing at the moment with the CFMEU in the Gorgon project? It is 90 per cent complete, and they are all going out on strike simply because they are trying to push the last few hours, days and weeks of that project. They are complaining about Chevron, which will not negotiate with them. Chevron does not employ any workers. It is all done by contractors.

Here is a case, Acting Deputy President, as you know, of a project that is worth $80 billion that has created for the MUA its richest opportunity ever in its history. A company in Houston, Chevron, has made its biggest investment anywhere in the world: three gas trains at Gorgon, two gas trains at Wheatstone and the opportunity for a fourth and a fifth at Gorgon and more at Wheatstone. So you would have thought, wouldn't you, that the head of that union would have been over there saying to that company, 'How can we work collaboratively and collectively to influence your board, Mr Watson'—the chairman of Chevron internationally—'so that you might decide to invest in a fourth and fifth train, however expensive it is to work offshore in WA compared to the Gulf of Mexico in the US?' It is more than double.

What did the head of the MUA do? He stood up in Houston at the AGM of Chevron and completely bucketed the management of the Chevron company with a whole stack of fallacious statements about occupational health and safety on those projects. How do you think the board of Chevron thought, or how will they think when they go to the conclusion as to whether they invest several billion more dollars in those projects? I do not know what was in Paddy Crumlin's mind. I have no idea. The head of a union whose members are making hundreds of thousands of dollars—his own union, absolutely glowing with riches—went across to that country and lambasted the operations of Chevron in Australia with a whole stack of lies about the relationship between the Australian Taxation Office and Chevron and Chevron's relationship with its Singapore identities. I can only wonder what Mr Martin Ferguson must have thought, when he said that the greatest thing holding back the opportunities in that industry is in fact the poor relations occurring across the board—again, with Mr Crumlin sitting beside him and the head of the CFMEU in that state, Mr Buchan. I am at a loss. Maybe somebody can explain it to me.

Time does not permit, of course. Senator Cameron spoke briefly and others have spoken briefly about naval shipbuilding in South Australia. As Senator Fawcett said, the last government ripped $16 billion out of the defence budget, having a dramatic effect on opportunities in South Australia, and this government is turning it around and committing heavily to re-establishing a viable shipbuilding industry. I will back the coalition every time when it comes to job opportunities.

Bob Day (SA, Family First Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been said that any place you cannot leave is a prison. Well, you cannot leave the workplace regulation system. It is a prison. When I ask why we lock people up like this, I am told: 'Well, it is for their own good. We do not want them to be exploited.' This is a grotesque infringement on liberty, freedom and dignity. It violates a person's right to get a job and provide for themselves and their families. It is unjust and unfair, particularly to the young people of my home state of South Australia, where youth unemployment is over 40 per cent in some areas.

Why is it that a person over the age of 18 is permitted to get married, have children, drive a motor vehicle, buy a house, take out a mortgage, travel to some of the most dangerous places on earth, smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, serve in the Army and vote but is not permitted to get a job on terms and conditions which suit them and their family? Unemployment in South Australia remains the nation's highest. If state and federal governments genuinely want to fix this tragic problem, they should release people from this workplace regulation prison.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with sadness that we have to stand and declare the reality that exists in this great country on this day—that is, that the Abbott government is presiding over the highest unemployment rate since 2002 and the highest number of unemployed Australians since 1994. That is a great shame on this nation, and it reveals the litany of mistruths that were told by those opposite before they came into power. Somehow they thought that, by simply arriving, the economy would take a turn for the better and everything would be rosy in the world of Liberaldom under Tony Abbott. But what we are seeing is the proof that this government is inadequate in terms of its capacity to govern, and the people who are paying the price for the incapacity of this government are the most vulnerable, particularly the unemployed.

The Prime Minister visited the Central Coast in the period since parliament last sat. He did not come to give anything to the Central Coast, though; he came to take money away at private fundraisers that people had to have invitations to go to. In addition to taking that away, he stood proudly and declared to the local newspaper that he had the honour of being the employment minister for several years in the Howard government and claimed his great success. But, in fact, these figures today take us back to exactly the same figures that existed when he was the minister for employment. I should call him the minister for unemployment, because that is the truth. As the minister for employment in the Howard government and now as the Prime Minister, the worst unemployment figures have been under the watch of Tony Abbott.

Indeed, Mrs Karen McNamara, the member for Dobell, standing alongside Mrs Lucy Wicks, the member for Robertson, indicated to the local newspaper:

Unfortunately, for too long the unemployment rate on the Central Coast has been at unacceptable levels … it's well above the national and state level.

I do not know how they are actually able to discern that, because the material that arrived at my office with a cover letter from Minister Hartsuyker did not declare any of the statistics for the Central Coast. That is another great thing that has happened since this government came in: they have withdrawn the statistics about the Central Coast and have drawn them into Greater Sydney, so they can hide the shame of what they are inflicting on the Central Coast community. Mrs McNamara went on to say:

I have been knocking on their doors—

referring to the Assistant Minister for Employment and the Prime Minister—

for the last two years saying we need to do something about this.

Indeed, the Prime Minister did do something about it. He came and he announced the Work for the Dole program. But did he go out to the sites where the people are going to work for the dole? No. He did not take the cameras out to the sites which are by the coast—away from many places where these young unemployed people live—where people are now going to pull weeds from the ground. That is their Work for the Dole program.

What sort of skill development is that for young unemployed Australians? What sort of shame is that to put them under? We love our environment on the Central Coast, but we do not pretend—certainly on this side of the chamber—that that skill development is going to get you a qualification and a job. And his mate, Mike Baird, in the state of New South Wales, is increasing the price of TAFE to such a point that young unemployed people cannot fathom any possible way out of the unemployment situation they find themselves in. To add insult to injury, Mrs Wicks, the member for Robertson, constantly proclaims to one and all that she has created 600 jobs on the Central Coast. Let us get some facts on the table here. The 600 jobs that she talks about are on the never-never. When the Prime Minister was on the coast he indicated that there 'might' be a refit of some building in Gosford in 2016. I remind anybody listening that that is likely to be after the next election. He then said that there 'could perhaps' be some of these 600 jobs in 2017. People who are in years 11 and 12 now might have a chance to get some of those jobs, but even that is unlikely.

The reality is that this government are not believed, as Senator Cameron indicated, by anybody anymore. They have told so many porkies over such a long period of time that no-one trusts them, and the people on the Central Coast know they cannot trust the Liberal members who continue to lie about job creation. The fact is that we are sitting here in this chamber at a time when unemployment is at its highest level since 2002 and we have the highest number of employed since 1994. Shame on this Abbott government! (Time expired)

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Neill just said that it is time to put some facts on the table, and I certainly concur with that statement. Sometimes if you are listening to these speeches from Labor senators you notice that numbers are not their strong suit. In this instance they seem to be expressing some kind of shock or horror that the number of people in Australia grows over time. Our population grows and therefore, of course, sometimes the number of unemployed persons grows or the number of employed persons also grows over time. Indeed, during the Rudd-Gillard government, those six years, the number of unemployed grew by 325,000. There were 325,000 more people unemployed at the end of the Rudd-Gillard government than there were at the beginning. Partly that was because of an increase in the unemployment rate during that period, but it was also due to an increase in the general population that we had. I should also say that the population has continued to grow under this government. So the number of unemployed persons has grown as well.

What was very concerning under the Rudd-Gillard government, though, was not just the growth in the unemployment rate or indeed the growth in the total number of people unemployed but also the decline in the participation rate, which is very important. It is a statistic not often referred to, but what it means is the percentage of people who could work who are looking for work. At the start of the Rudd-Gillard government the participation rate was 65.4 per cent and over the period of that government it fell to 64.7 per cent. That does not sound like a big decline but, over history, it is actually quite a large decline. That, of course, happened because people were disaffected—they did not think they could possibly find a job, so they were not looking for a job and they left the labour force. Therefore they were lost to our economy and our community, at least in terms of their economic contribution.

Since the Abbott government came to power the participation rate, which was at 64 per cent, has now grown to 65.1 per cent. It has grown by almost half of what the fall had been during the Rudd-Gillard government. That normally indicates a vote of confidence—if more people are looking for work it is generally a vote of confidence that potentially there is work out there. So there are some green shoots here in our economy—people are at least not becoming disaffected in their employment search and they want to look for work. More people are out there looking for a job now, which is a good thing.

The last employment survey, which was released a couple of weeks ago, for July, which Labor is so focused on, showed that 38,500 jobs were created in July. That is definitely an above-average level of jobs growth, and above market expectations at the time. But the participation rate increased at the same time, which is why the unemployment rate increased. If the participation rate had not increased and we got those 38,500 new jobs, unemployment would be 5.9 per cent today, not 6.3 per cent. The reason unemployment has increased is that more people are looking for work and more jobs are being created, which is a good thing.

It was not just in July that more jobs have been created under this government; I think Senator Back mentioned that 163,000 jobs have been created this year alone, which equates to around 23,000 jobs per month. Last year 200,000 jobs were created, which equates to around 16,200 per month. We are building on it—things are getting better. Last year we had 16,200 jobs per month created; so far this year we have had 23,000 jobs. That is a good news story. We are heading in the right direction. We do not have a magic wand; we cannot create jobs overnight. But we can create the economic environment where there is more confidence and in which more people want to start a business and employ people. That is exactly what has been happening. When you compare last year's jobs growth of 16,000-odd per month and this year's growth of more than 20,000 jobs a month created with that of the last year of the Labor government, 2013, you will see that just 3,600 jobs per month were created. We have gone from 2013 with 3,600 jobs per month being created to 2014 with 16,000 jobs per month being created to this year with, so far, 23,000 jobs per month being created. It is a good news story. Things are heading in the right direction and that is the way we hope it will be.

That is not to say that there are not challenges in our economy. That is not to say that the last few years have not been difficult for some parts of Australia. Rockhampton, where I am based, is in a large area of coalmining, and it has been very tough in the last couple of years, with declining commodity prices and increased unemployment. In our area we need to attract new jobs and new investment. At the moment we have two great threats to those things happening. Two things will stop jobs from being created in Central Queensland: one is tax, the other is regulation and red tape. Those two things, tax and regulation, are the biggest threats to jobs in Central Queensland today. On the regulation front, last week we saw a snake and a lizard stop a $16 billion coalmine project in Central Queensland. There was not anything particular about the snake or the lizard that caused this project to be stopped; it was the fact that certain bureaucratic processes had not been complied with, so a judge put that decision aside.

That $16 billion project was first put forward for approval to the Department of the Environment in November 2010 and the investor is still waiting for a yes or a no. It has now been 1,726 days since that investor asked whether or not he could get approval from the federal government to build a coalmine—1,726 days. What country takes more than 1,700 days to say yes or no to a $16 billion project that would potentially create 10,000 jobs? We are talking here about jobs and a 10,000-job project is staring us in the face right now and we want to argue about bureaucracy and whether or not the minister has looked at every sentence in a preservation order. It is madness.

The other big threat to jobs is tax. The Labor Party and the Greens want to bring back the carbon tax. They loved the carbon tax so much the first time that they want to bring back a sequel that is bigger and better and with a bigger budget than the first one. And because it is bigger, it is going to have a bigger impact on our economy. The first carbon tax was going to cost thousands of jobs in Central Queensland; this one would potentially cost tens of thousands of jobs. We should oppose it and make sure that does not happen.

John Madigan (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on this matter of public importance. I generally do not like taking pot shots at the government—this one or the previous one. However, I think the MPI provides some clear evidence that neither this government nor the last have been doing all they could to increase employment in Australia.

A country is what a country makes and, under this government and the previous one, we have seen the destruction of the car industry, the shipbuilding industry sail into the valley of death and our fuel security evaporate. We have seen a strong lack of commitment by government to buy Australian-made products and, in turn, support local jobs. We have seen a complete unwillingness by governments to act decisively and to plan ahead. If there is something that this government and the previous government are good at talking about, it is jobs generated by their policies, not how many jobs were lost as a result of their policies. Unemployment in this country is far too high and I fear that in coming years it may even be higher. It is a national shame that when talking about nation-building projects we continually refer to such things as rolling out fibre optic cable under the ground. We do not talk about building new dams, helping our innovative companies and Australian manufacturers and farmers to really thrive in Australia and in overseas markets. Both sides of parliament enjoy talking about R&D, but actions speak louder than words.

In my closing remarks today, I would like to say that Australia is a smart country, but it is not necessarily a lucky country. Australia is where it is today because of the vision and hard work of Australians past and present. We need to make sure that as a parliament we nurture our manufacturers and our farmers and, in turn, create quality jobs for all Australians.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My home state of South Australia is facing a jobs crisis. It is now making national headlines for all the wrong reasons—posting the worst unemployment rate in the nation for the last two months. This week the bad news has kept coming, with BHP Billiton announcing it was cutting 380 jobs from Olympic Dam in the far north of the my home state and from in Adelaide. The unemployment statistics would be bad enough but the planned closure of auto making and ship manufacturing in the next two years means SA faces a true jobs emergency. That is why it is bizarre that the government continues to sit on the $700 million left in the Automotive Transformation Scheme, which could be used to transition the auto-making sector, the component sector, into other sectors. The government should direct those funds to transitioning the 150 auto components firms and the 33,000 workers directly employed into sectors that have a future in this country. The multiplier effect we know is that in excess of 100,000 to 150,000 will be affected by that. We need to ensure that we assist Ford, Holden and Toyota to stay here until the last possible moment.

Last week's announcement by the government that it intends to set up a continuous build of surface warships was welcome as far as it went, but it was light on detail and any cutting of steel in Adelaide is still more than two elections away in 2020.

The 'valley of death' has arrived in South Australia, in Victoria and in New South Wales. ASC has shed hundreds of jobs in recent months and this will only get worse when the AWD work ends mid next year. The government could avoid much of the valley of death by redirecting a local build of the Navy's two new supply ships, rather than sending the $2 billion contract overseas in a limited tender. Now is the time to announce a local build of the new support ships, or at least a hybrid build, to be built in Australia's three naval ship yards, in Newcastle, in Port Melbourne and in Adelaide. It is well past time for the government to deliver on its commitment to build subs in Australia.

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Time for discussion has expired.