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

I feel I have to say that I am a republican, but I am sure that would not surprise those opposite. I want to talk tonight about the seat of Canning and start by saying that whatever by-election commitments Mr Abbott makes in the seat of Canning, however many millions of dollars he commits, must be balanced against the millions of dollars he stripped out in other ways. Pensioners, families and students are all directly affected by what Mr Abbott and his WA MPs and senators do in Canberra. If you visit a doctor, if you need a prescription or if you drive a car your costs have all gone up under Mr Abbott, his WA MPs and his WA senators. These policies, which increase the cost of living for voters in Canning, are the policies the Liberal candidate for Canning, Mr Andrew Hastie, is signing up to.

The pensioners of Canning will miss out if Mr Abbott and his candidate have their way. Independent analysis by Professor Peter Whiteford puts the pension at currently equal to 28 per cent of average weekly earnings. Under Mr Abbott's plan, pensioners will drop to just 16 per cent of average weekly earnings. Under Mr Abbott's government's measures this will mean over time up to $80 a week less for pensioners in Canning, and it is a $15.5 million hit to the seat of Canning.

Some 11,000 families, or more than 10 per cent of the electorate of Canning, would be affected if Mr Abbott got his way on Family Tax Benefit B. Under Labor, this benefit continues until the youngest child turns 18, if they are still in education. This attack on families, this desire by Mr Abbott and his WA team, to get rid of Family Tax Benefit B is stuck here in the Senate. But make no mistake, it is the policy of Mr Abbott and his WA MPs and senators to take this money off families in Canning.

Mr Abbott and every WA MP and senator have confirmed that they are determined to increase university fees, making university fees unaffordable for students or for aspiring students in Canning—$100,000 degrees. Despite this measure not passing the Senate on numerous occasions it is still their plan, it is still their intention, and it will be the intention of the Liberal candidate for Canning if he is elected to the federal parliament. He will put up his hand and vote up this measure to disadvantage students and aspiring students in the seat of Canning, to introduce $100,000 degrees.

Unemployment in WA, unfortunately, under the shocking economic management of Colin Barnett coupled with the harsh Abbott government measures is at an all-time high because WA is experiencing a downturn in the mining boom. It has to be said that under the Colin Barnett Liberal government they squandered the boom. Now Mr Abbott is trying to make life much tougher for families and the unemployed in Canning. There are many fly in, fly out workers in Canning who will be worrying about their jobs. They will be worrying about their futures and they will certainly be worrying about their families. Of course, Mr Abbott does not have a plan. He thinks jobs will somehow materialise out of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. What he is not being truthful about is that Australian jobs, local jobs in Canning, are under threat in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. For some jobs labour-market testing has been abandoned for projects over $150 million, which in Western Australia is every resource project and in the Perth central business district it is every construction job.

Just recently when in Canning, Mr Abbott denied that his departmental staff told a Broome cruise ship operator that he should take the Australian flag off the back of his ship, sack his 60 Western Australian seafarers and hire cheap foreign labour. Yesterday in the parliament when confronted with the truth the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Truss, said that 60 Australian jobs was a trivial matter. It is not a trivial matter in Western Australia and it is certainly not a trivial matter in the seat of Canning. I am still waiting for Mr Abbott to apologise to Mr Milby from North Star Cruise Ships for asserting he was lying about being told to sack his Australian workforce. The Prime Minister came to Western Australia, came to the seat of Canning, and made that accusation about a Western Australian business person. It is now seven days since Mr Abbott made that accusation and there is still no apology.

In relation to jobs the voters of Canning cannot trust, and do not trust, the Abbott government. They cannot tell the truth about ChAFTA. The Abbott government have been given opportunity after opportunity and, indeed, their candidate for the seat of Canning, cannot tell the truth about Canning. They certainly cannot tell the truth when it comes to a local Western Australian cruise ship operator.

Youth unemployment in Canning, particularly in the suburb of Mandurah, is alarmingly high at 14.6 per cent. What was the response of Mr Abbott and his Liberal candidate? They said: 'Let's punish young people. Let's make them wait at least a month before they can get a benefit and during this month they are expected to double their efforts to find a job, and if they didn't, well, the month without benefits could be extended.' How does Mr Abbott and his Liberal candidate for Canning expect young people to find a job without money? What about their accommodation and their food? How do they get to job interviews or make sure their clothes are up to the mark for job interviews? How do they manage their basic needs without money?

Mission Australia, highlighted the same issue at a recent Senate inquiry on the bill compelling young people to wait four weeks before being eligible for a benefit. They said:

We are concerned, however, that the current budget measures before us risk taking a punitive approach to young people in the current labour market, where there is only one job available for every six job seekers. Youth unemployment has remained stubbornly high since the global financial crisis, and in some areas where we work it is as high as 30 per cent.

Luckily, today in the Senate, that bill was defeated because Labor senators and others voted against it. But of course it is still the policy of the Abbott government and its candidate for Canning, and I am sure it will be brought back again.

Now the Liberal candidate for Canning is trying to pretend that somehow he is running for President of the Republic of Canning! He has said he will take a hard line in Canberra. He will not take a hard line in Canberra; he will toe the line. He will sign up to $100,000 university degrees. He will sign up to taking money off pensioners. He will sign up to making it more expensive to go to the GP. He will sign up to making it much harder for young people to get unemployment benefits. Those are Liberal party policies; he is the captain's pick to run in the seat of Canning; and so these are the policies that he will vote 'yes' to in this place, despite him trying to convince the voters of Canning to the contrary. The fact is we have not seen one Western Australian MP or senator do anything but vote for these policies, and he will vote for them in the same way. He is trying to distance himself from the PM and his harsh budget measures. But, as I said, the Liberal candidate is another captain's pick and he will do as he is told, just as all the other WA MPs and senators do. All of them support the PM's harsh budget measures, and so will the Liberal candidate for Canning, if he is elected.