Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

We have a robust economy which has been created by good economic management, by dint of hard work of this government and the people of Australia, and that has led to these sorts of outcomes for the Australian economy and Australians. Yet at every turn the Leader of the Opposition, the Labor Party and the unions have opposed the reforms that have brought about this economic powerhouse in Australia. On the one hand we have the opposition opposing all the reforms that have brought about economic success to Australia and on the other hand we have the Howard government putting in place a framework of opportunity that has been to the benefit of Australian workers and their families.

For families this has meant improved wages; it has meant 165,000 new jobs created in the last eight months in Australia—not just the 3.4 per cent unemployment rate in the electorate of Kalgoorlie. We have seen people making use of expanded opportunities for themselves and being increasingly prepared to take risks in expanding their businesses—small businesses, microbuisnesses, medium businesses and large businesses. If we want to continue to enjoy the fruits of this prosperity in Australia, we have to be prepared to allow people to succeed—to allow people to get out and have a go, as they have over the last 10 years. That is what Australians are doing increasingly because of the economic framework that has been put in place in this country. Yet the Leader of the Opposition has recommitted the Labor Party to abolishing Australian workplace agreements, which, in a single stroke, would wipe out up to $10 billion worth of export revenue from the resource sector of Australia.

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