Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance. You have to hand it to the member for Gorton: he is a bit forgetful. But I am from the government and I am here to help! I will just remind him of a few facts. He forgot to mention the fact that there were 38,500 jobs produced last month. He forgot to mention the fact that more people came back into the search for work, which is welcome. The participation rate has increased to 65.1 per cent. More people are encouraged to look for work to get back into the workplace. He forgot to mention the fact that 335,800 new jobs have been created since this government was elected. He forgot to mention the fact that 23,000 jobs have been created every month over the last 12 months and that there have been 163,000 jobs created this year. This is great news for Australians who are looking for work.

What was the performance of Labor when they were in office? Did they produce 10,000 jobs per month when they were about to leave office? No. Did they produce 9,000? No. How many did they produce? It was a measly 3,600 every month. Yet the member for Gorton has the audacity to come into this chamber and feign concern for the job seekers of this country.

The opposition have no plan. They try to talk our economy down. But, despite their efforts, our economy is getting stronger. Australia enjoyed strong economic growth of almost one per cent in the March quarter, making us one of the fastest growing economies in the developed world. Nothing creates jobs faster and more effectively than a strong economy. Just last week, the ABS figures showed that the number of people in employment is at a record high. Some 11.8 million people are in work. Full-time employment is at a record high of 8.17 million people. Part-time employment is at a record high of 3.64 million people. The government is putting in place policies to increase the amount of employment in this country.

One example of those types of policies is our $5.5 billion 'growing jobs and small business' package. It is driving jobs growth in the small business sector. Small businesses around this country employ some 4.5 million Australians. Their contribution to Australian society and the economy should be acknowledged. That is what this year's budget delivered in spades.

Another example of good policy is our instant asset write-off, allowing small businesses to write off assets of up to $20,000, encouraging them to go out and invest in their business and put on more workers. Farmers in my electorate are able to immediately deduct all eligible capital expenditure on fencing and water facilities. Fodder storage assets will be deductible over three years.

We are cutting taxes for small business. Small business companies with an annual turnover of less than $2 million will enjoy a lower corporate tax rate of 28½ per cent. Around 1.7 million unincorporated small businesses are able to access a five per cent tax discount up to $1,000 so that they can get fair treatment with regard to taxation. These measures are stimulating our economy. These measures are encouraging small business to employ. These measures are good for small business and good for job seekers.

Labor's misleading and deceptive scare campaign is no more obvious than on the issue of youth unemployment. They ignore the fact that this government has committed some $330 million towards a youth employment strategy, while at the same time they have done next to nothing. The sum total of Labor's strategy with regard to youth unemployment and unemployment generally is a $20 million pilot program and a bit of a round-the-country talkfest. Heading off around the country on a talkfest—that is their strategy with regard to youth unemployment.

This government is spending 15 times more than Labor has on the table. This government is helping 15 times more job seekers than Labor propose to do. We are focused on youth unemployment. Our youth employment strategy includes, among other things, a $212 million Transition to Work program to assist young job seekers at high risk of long-term unemployment. There is $106 million to provide intensive support for vulnerable job seekers, including parents, young people, young people with a mental illness and young refugees and migrants. It is an important program aimed to assist people on their journey from welfare to work. We have a strong focus on early school leavers, encouraging early school leavers to get into the workforce. But, wait—there is more! We are redesigning wage subsidies to make them more flexible to encourage more employers to put on more workers. Our new $1.2 billion wage subsidy scheme will be paid sooner and more flexibly to assist businesses defray the costs of putting on additional workers.

When young people out there tell us that they cannot get a job because they do not have experience and that they cannot get experience because they do not have a job, we listen to those concerns. That is why we introduced the National Work Experience Program, giving young people up to four weeks of experience in a for-profit or not-for-profit business, with the aim of making them more employable and giving them assistance to get into the workplace.

On 1 July, the government's $6.8 billion jobactive program commenced, providing better services for job seekers and employers. It is good news for job seekers and businesses to have a new service delivering more efficient and more effective policies and services.

What is Labor's proposal? Labor's proposal is to burden our economy with a great big new environmental tax that is going to destroy jobs and an unrealistic carbon abatement target that is going to deter employment and reduce the growth in our economy. In the final months of the Labor government, Labor modelled a plan for a reduction target of 44 per cent that would slash cumulative GDP by some $630 billion by 2030, reduce income by nearly $5,000 per person and increase wholesale electricity prices by 78 per cent. I can see Honest Bill's ad campaign now—'We are going to drive up your electricity prices by 78 per cent! We are going to cut your income by $5,000! Vote for us!' I do not think the Australian people are that silly. I know Australian employers are not silly enough to swallow such a ridiculous scheme. We are about jobs; they are about holding the economy back.

Those opposite have a lot to say in relation to jobs in South Australia. In fact, it was Labor who left South Australian workers in the valley of death. Australian shipbuilding was held back by a failure by members opposite when they were in government to address our defence needs and to invest in necessary shipbuilding. To address the inadequacies of those opposite, this government is bringing forward the Future Frigate Program to replace the Anzac class frigates. That will stimulate jobs and the economy whilst improving our national security. We have confirmed a continuous onshore build program from 2020, three years earlier than scheduled under Labor's Defence Capability Plan—that probably should be Labor's 'defence incompetence plan'. The frigates will be built in South Australia and this will help to save more than 500 jobs, jobs that would not exist unless we put work to hand to fix Labor's mess. We are bringing forward the construction of the offshore patrol vessels by two years to replace the Armidale class patrol boat—a continuous build that will commence in 2018 and maintain around 400 skilled jobs. Once both of these programs ramp up, we will guarantee around 2,500 jobs for Australian shipbuilders for decades to come.

I would like to mention that this government has achieved what Labor could not achieve: we negotiated free trade agreements with China, South Korea and Japan. Labor could not do it. There was a lot of talk but no action. Our free trade agreements are going to create jobs. Our policies are going to create jobs. Members opposite have no idea. They have been in opposition for two years and the only policies they have on job creation are a talkfest and a $20 million pilot. They let job seekers down when in government and they continue to let job seekers down from opposition.

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