Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

This nation has had 33 opposition leaders since Federation. We have just heard from the worst of them. Eighteen of those opposition leaders have become Prime Minister; God help us if ever that man becomes Prime Minister. Let us hope he does not. But I will take him up on a few points.

He talked about jobs. Let me tell him, as he scurries from the chamber, that job advertisement levels as measured by the ANZ are at their highest levels in over two years, with job ads growing a healthy 13.6 per cent through the year—the fastest yearly growth in more than 3½ years. More than 200,000 jobs were created just last year—213,900. This equates to around 585 new jobs, each and every day, or a new job every 2½ minutes. In 2014, jobs growth was more than triple the rate seen in 2013 when Labor was last in power. The Dun and Bradstreet business expectations survey released on 3 February 2015 found that the outlook on employment is the most positive it has been for a decade.

When I attended school, and that was a little while ago now, students were graded A to D for their educational prowess or lack thereof. If I were marking the current government and opposition for their respective performances and policy proposals during the 44th Parliament, I would award us an A for effort. I would give a D to those opposite—absolutely a D. The attendance record of those opposite has been pretty good.

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