Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Attorney General (Senator Brandis) and the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science (Senator Sinodinos) to questions without notice asked by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Wong) and Senator Carr today relating to unemployment.

Today the Leader of the Government in the Senate was asked: with 34,000 full-time jobs lost in 2016 and 19,800 more people in the unemployment queue now than when the Abbott-Turnbull government was elected in 2013, is it not clear that the government is delivering fewer jobs and fewer opportunities? I was surprised that the minister's answer was to say that the government's policies were working. I put a simple proposition to those who actually believe that to be true: they should simply ask someone who does not. They will be able to explain that the fact that there were 34,000 full-time jobs lost last year and that there are nearly 20,000 more people on the unemployment queues since this government took office is demonstrable evidence that the government's policies are not working.

The Leader of the Government in the Senate suggested that the employment situation in this country was buoyant. Buoyant! What struck me was how remarkable it was that the government was so lacking in empathy. A position of great economic and social distress is being reflected right across this country in so many communities. So many communities are facing the uncertainty of the economic conditions. The enormous pressures that have been placed on working families have caused concern and anxiety, and the government's response is to say, 'The employment situation is buoyant.' This is making an assumption about seasonal unemployment, which is now 5.8 per cent according to the ABS—an assumption that I say is open to question. The survey results from the ABS rely upon the presumption that a person is working for an hour a week. There is considerable academic literature to suggest that the ABS surveys grossly understate the level of underemployment and the number of people who are without jobs.

The new Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science was recently quoted as saying that we had to accept that some industries will die. He reflected on that today, and he once again said essentially that we should accept the proposition that there is somehow or other a natural process at work here. In regard to the automotive industry, it is absolutely clear that there is no natural process here because the government made a political decision to force the automotive companies out of Australia. That was reflected by the fact that the Treasurer at the time in 2013 asked General Motors to 'come clean' and 'be fair dinkum'—'Either you're here or you're not.' The Acting Prime Minister at the time said to the chamber:

… today I have written to the general manager of Holden, Mr Devereux, asking General Motors to make an immediate statement clarifying their intentions in this country.

It is quite clear what the threat was. In the context of the government saying they were going to withdraw industry assistance, there was no doubt whatsoever. In fact, at the time The Age quoted a text message by a company executive:

Are you seeing this question time attack on Holden? Taunting [Holden] to leave? It's extraordinary.

So there is nothing natural about a proposition where this government has sought to destroy an industry, nothing natural about a political decision to drive the automotive manufacturers Holden and Toyota out of this country, nothing natural about the enormous social and economic cost that that decision will have for this country. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the cost to this country will be measured as far greater than any level of assistance provided to those industries—the cost in terms of health, the cost in terms of social disruption and of course the cost in terms of the dole queues. This is a government that says it is interested in investment but it drives away international companies that provide support for up to 200,000 jobs in this country, provide support for what is a key element of manufacturing in this country. At the time General Motors reminded us that for every dollar spent by the automotive industry $30 was generated throughout the economy—200,000 high-skill, high-wage, important jobs, the backbone of our manufacturing sector. This government made a decision to destroy manufacturing in this country in the automotive industry, and now they face the consequences of that. (Time expired)

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those of us who have been around this place for a while, as I have, will remember that Senator Carr was once the minister for industry. We remember how in question time after question time, speech after speech, Senator Carr was softening up Australia for the bad news. It was during the time of his leadership of the industry portfolio that the manufacturers decided it was time to get out of Australia. The subsidies the government was then giving—taxpayers funding these multinational or American companies—were no longer viable. Senator Carr knew that himself, and he presided over the downturn of the car industry, which occurred just after the Labor government was defeated at the 2013 election.

David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ford announced it while he was minister.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bushby—Ford did announce their departure while Senator Carr was the minister. I only raise that to put Senator Carr's comments in perspective. I have to say there is one element of Senator Carr's speech I do agree with. I accept the minister's confirmation that on the statistics, on the figures, employment is doing okay in Australia. But I come from North Queensland. I know the impact of unemployment there. That is one of the reasons I have been so keen to support this Singapore deal and the expansion of the High Range army training field. The Singaporean taxpayer, not the Australian taxpayer, is going to pour some $2 billion-plus into upgrading this area. The government has given a commitment that the work done in upgrading the area, which will be quite substantial for a whole range of contractors, will be done by local contractors, by local businesses in the Townsville and Rockhampton region. Those businesses will employ people—they will support other small businesses in those communities that are currently struggling. That is why I have been such a strong supporter of that particular project, because it will help with the unemployed in Townsville and Rockhampton, it will help with the small businesses struggling in Townsville and Rockhampton. This proposal to expand the army base is for Australia's benefit—it is for the use of Australian defence forces in extending their training. Their training has to be changed because 3 Brigade has now become not just the light infantry brigade it was but also it now has cavalry units, and so the training area has to expand. That involves quite significant development work, and it will create jobs for Townsville's unemployed and for the small business people that I look after in the area.

I mentioned previously on another topic the proposal for the Adani coalmine and the rail line from the coal site to Abbott Point—major infrastructure projects for Australia, for my state of Queensland, that will help the Queensland budget. Dearie me, the current government we have in Queensland needs every bit of help it can get with the state budget. It is good for Australia; but, more importantly, it is good for those unemployed, those quite substantial numbers of unemployed in central and north Queensland who are there because of the downturn of the mining industry and the closure of the Queensland Nickel refinery in Townsville. There are a lot of people out of work.

So on that I agree with Senator Carr. I am desperate, as is the government I am part of, to make sure that we do whatever we can to provide real jobs for the unemployed and to help struggling small businesses. Small businesses are mums and dads who put their life savings into their business. Through no fault of their own, with the downturn of the mining industry, a lot of them are struggling to stay afloat. The Adani project and the Singapore deal, which will require expansion for Australia of Australia's training bases, will provide those jobs, that support and that lifeline for small business in the north. We as a government will do everything we can to continue to grow employment opportunities in Australia.

Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution in respect of the issue of jobs and this government's manifest failure to do anything productive in that area. In fact their attitude is quite destructive about the creation of jobs in this country, borne out by the fact that 34,000 full-time jobs were lost in 2016. I am totally gobsmacked by the fact that in Senator MacDonald's contribution to this debate he would raise the issue of the Shoalwater Bay acquisition—that complete bungling of the exercise by this government. We have seen a government which says it is interested in job creation totally bungle this acquisition in the Shoalwater Bay area, where I think some 60 or so graziers were informed that their land was potentially going to be compulsorily acquired. Those good people were put through quite a lot of concern, angst and confusion for some months, only to have the Prime Minister today rule out any compulsory land acquisition. That has been completely bungled. The government failed to put forward a case. It did not provide the numbers, it did not provide a proper plan as to what was in place there. So heaven help us in this country. If this government is putting its mind to job creation I think we are all in trouble.

We see nothing better to illustrate this than the departure of Senator Bernardi from the ranks of government today. This is a government which is divided upon itself. A government which cannot govern itself cannot govern the country. It is no wonder that people throughout Australia, particularly in regional Queensland, are losing faith in the political class when we see this dysfunction and chaos in our government.

In terms of creation of jobs, we know that this government has a centrepiece of a corporate tax rate reduction, which they say is the answer to the creation of jobs. We are very, very concerned about that. We consider that to be basically corporate tax welfare. It is a windfall for foreign companies and for the banks. It relies on the trickle-down approach, which I think has now been discredited by many respected economists. Senator Carr has talked about what I consider to be the economic vandalism associated with loss of support for the car industry, an industry which took decades to build up. Tens of thousands of jobs are now at risk, and there is the potential flow-on effect for research and development in this country, which I think is a particular disgrace.

I want to use my remaining time to talk about another example of this government's wanton disregard for the creation of jobs, particularly in relation to its attitude to the Brisbane Cross River Rail project—a $5.5 billion project which has the support of Infrastructure Australia and Building Queensland, the independent bodies which assess infrastructure projects. This is a project in Brisbane which would cater for future growth, unlock economic growth opportunities for the state and make Queensland more internationally competitive. It has been estimated that it would add $3.3 billion to gross state product. Some consider this to be in fact the number one infrastructure project in Australia, but we have a government which is failing to invest in Queensland. It is failing to invest in what can be objectively seen as a very, very worthwhile project. We know that Infrastructure Australia deemed this project ready to go in 2012. We know that the previous Prime Minister had a somewhat strange propensity to fail to invest in public transport. We now have a Prime Minister who seems to like taking selfies on trains and claims to be an advocate for public transport, but it is reprehensible that the government has not come forward with the necessary investment to bring this project to fruition. The coalition government has done nothing on Cross River Rail for more than three years. I think this is contributing to the damaging of the Queensland economy, and the government needs to reconsider its position in respect of this matter.

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

I wonder if the day could ever come when we could have a mature discussion in a non-adversarial way about an issue that is critically important to all Australians—unemployment. I admire Senator Ketter and I respect him, but his opening words were 'manifest failure', 'destructive', 'gobsmacked'. We are all concerned about unemployment. You have figures of 34,000 jobs lost—that was the comment by senators Ketter and Carr. The Attorney-General says 95,000 new full-time jobs in the fourth quarter of 2016—half a million jobs. I wonder if the day could ever come when all of us representing the electorates we do could sit down and say, 'Let's leave the adversary at the door and have a reasonable discussion about what is possible.'

On the one hand we say—on the other side, we are concerned that any tax cuts are just going to go to the banks and the multinationals. We all know that the biggest employer group in this country are small businesses. They employ 45 per cent of all Australians. As someone who comes from regional Western Australia, I can tell you that it is small businesses in regional WA that employs people. It is small businesses that take kids on. It is small businesses that are the ones most affected. Yet we all know that, particularly in a small business space, if you drop the tax, it adds to improved and increased employment.

We talk about penalty rates. Our side says, 'Just bring Sundays and public holidays down to Saturday.' You on the other side say that is the end of the world as we know it. And those who do not work mid-week, like single mums and students, miss out because businesses do not open. Is it possible for us ever in this place to have a reasonable argument amongst colleagues?

We hear about the car manufacturing industry and the loss of jobs, but it was Mitsubishi that closed up under the last government and it was Ford who announced they were going to close up under the last government, yet we are being lambasted because of Toyota and General Motors. I am reminded of the fact that Toyota wanted to go the Fair Work Commission and say, 'At the current EBA levels that we are paying people, we can't survive.' So what happens? The union movement and the then government of the day and the Fair Work Commission say, 'No. No changes.' So what happens? Toyota announce that they are going to close up. How frustrating is that.

Senator Gallacher and I were responsible for a Senate inquiry into our relationship with Mexico. As a result of that inquiry, there were seminars in Adelaide and in Melbourne to say that the vehicle component manufacturing industry in Mexico will need us to be able to provide for their three million cars per year. We all know the stats. Out of the million new cars a year, 900,000 are imported. And it is people like these in the gallery making the decision. I do not want a locally manufactured motor car. If I was allowed to I would ask for a straw poll and I know that nine out of 10 would say that we do not have an Australian manufactured car.

I look at the seasonal worker situation. At this moment there is fruit on vines and trees rotting because, whatever the mechanisms are, we cannot get young Australians and others to go out and pick the fruit. So we rely on seasonal workers from the Pacific and we rely on backpackers from overseas. I go through the agricultural areas and I ask: why are there no young locals on tractors during seeding and harvest? Am I happy about that? No. And yet we cannot have a reasonable discussion about this.

We cannot talk about electricity prices because it is going to be adversarial. And yet I learned the other day in South Australia that next to labour costs the highest costs on business is electricity, so they are putting workers off. I have been bleating away for five years in this place about electricity prices. I was the first person to say that power costs were going to go up dramatically in South Australia and they were going to have a state-wide blackout. I look at the issues associated with tourism: 80,000 jobs desperately needed, 80,000 long-term unemployed. Why can't we have a reasonable collegial discussion instead of this adversarial nonsense. (Time expired)

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

I too rise to make a contribution in this debate taking note of answers given by Senator Brandis and Senator Sinodinos. Just to recap slightly: we went to election on 2 July or thereabouts in 2016, and the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull was successful. He delivered the Senate that we currently have. And there are many new faces—some of them welcome, some not so welcome. But the reality is he has to own his work.

If the ABS is saying at the end of 2016 that the unemployment rate has risen to 5.8 per cent—741,000 unemployed Australians—he has to own that work. If under Malcolm Turnbull there are 19,800 more people lining the unemployment queue than when the Abbott-Turnbull government was elected in 2013 and there are fewer full-time jobs, he has to own that work. That is his work.

When you look at the international debate at the moment, there is a recently elected person who, when the facts do not agree with his position, puts out alternative facts. In some degree Senator Brandis attempted to do that today. But the electorate does know that those alternative facts are really a word that starts with B, ends with T, and has a middle letter of S. The real people out there who care about unemployment, who care about the hundreds of thousands of youth unemployed who are not getting access to jobs or traineeships or apprenticeships, know that these alternative facts which are thrown around the chamber are actually mistruths—I will not say lies, but they are a misrepresentation of the work that the ABS does. Senator Carr has put on the record that there is both academic and public scepticism about the way we measure unemployment anyway.

Sufficed to say that if you move around your electorate—and I move around the seat of Grey—there is real concern about unemployment. There is real concern about loss of jobs and ability to get into jobs. When you look at what is happening in the automotive industry—that is a direct indictment of this current government. We were sending $1.5 billion worth of cars to the Middle East. What have we replaced that with? Carrots? Sheep? Some vegetables? That is an awful lot of produce that needs to go to Saudi Arabia to replace the $600 million worth of Toyotas that were imported by that country.

When I had the privilege of going to Saudi Arabia on a trade delegation, through the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, they said: 'Why aren't you making cars anymore? We love your cars. We buy them. Why aren't you sending them our way anymore?' It is difficult to explain to people that we had a federal government that chose to do away with making cars per se. Toyota had a successful business and probably could have stayed, had there been another manufacturer alive. But they could not support their export simply on the basis of being the only manufacturer of motor vehicles in Australia. This government walked away from that.

I will go back to my central theme: you have to own the work you have done. As we all agree, the ABS stats may be a bit problematic, but they are the only stats we have. If they show that unemployment is increasing, that goes back to the Prime Minister, his government and his policies. If there are more people are seeking employment than can get fully employed, he has to be cognisant of that and put in place policies to deal with that. The reality is that he has got nothing substantial through the parliament to address these issues, and it looks like he does not even have an agenda in his Prime Minister and Cabinet area which will help. Sure, you want to cut tax; cut tax, fine, but people are already in front of you. The United States is saying 15 per cent tax. I think Ireland is already at 12 per cent. What is it—a race for big business to pay no tax? Half of them, as we know from several inquiries, do not appear to be stepping up to meet their obligations, with transfer-pricing, housing company headquarters in Singapore and the rest of these matters. Mr Turnbull has to own his results. Unemployment is up, underemployment is up and youth unemployment is up. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.