David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I don't know what the member for Wakefield was thinking. He even said before he spoke that he was sorry to bring this issue up. I can see why, because this week we have got the best employment growth figures and the best unemployment figures for many, many years. Even the ABC—one of the biggest promoters of the coalition!—lauded the phenomenal jobs growth in the last figures. Manufacturing in South Australia, in the smart manufacturing sector, has produced 3,700 jobs in the last year alone. Since the coalition came to office in 2013, there are 825,000 new jobs circulating in the Australian economy. In the last 12 months alone there have been 371,000 new jobs, of which 80 per cent are full-time jobs. Employment has increased very strongly this year, rising by 3.1 per cent, well above the average rate of only 1.6 per cent over the decade. In fact, it's the highest jobs growth rate since 2008 and it's the longest run of growth and employment that we have had since 2004. That's why I can see why the member for Wakefield was sorry he brought this up as an MPI. Normally, they are meant to be bagging us about bad figures and bad outcomes, but we have got these fantastic employment growth figures.

Labor has failed working Australians. They abandoned the blue-collar workers that depend on a reliable energy scheme and guaranteed dispatchable energy. Under six years of Labor, unemployment grew by 203,000. When the member for Maribyrnong was the Minister for Workplace Relations, unemployment numbers grew by 77,000. Labor made it hard for businesses to employ people because of the $9 billion carbon tax impost. They abolished the Building and Construction Commission, so lawlessness, intimidation and rorts re-entered the construction industry.

As opposed to that, we have really got some great outcomes. As I said, in South Australia they are transitioning to a new manufacturing base, with 3,700 new advanced manufacturing jobs in the last year. Those opposite go on about Holden closing, but who was in charge when Mitsubishi closed in 2008? The other side was. There were 1,000 people put out of work. That's not even factoring in the $66 billion impost that their energy system would impose on businesses in Australia.

We have addressed the fundamentals. We have got the biggest infrastructure build going on in Australian federal history—$75 billion worth of infrastructure. We have put tax cuts in place for small businesses, down to 27½ per cent. Those opposite said that was going to lose money, but company tax revenue shot up in the last budgetary figures. Now the deficit has been reduced by $4.4 billion, mainly on the back of increased company tax income.

On threats to employment, I think the biggest threat to employment is the people on the other side. They are proposing a $66 billion tax on the energy bills that everyone, including businesses, has to pay. The only thing that's worse than expensive energy is no energy, and their systems have delivered exactly that in South Australia. We have people and large businesses with incredible fears and concerns about proposed blackouts in this coming summer. The Energy Guarantee and the changes to the energy market will stop that happening because there will be a guarantee that energy is supplied 99.98 per cent of the time. As I said, the only thing worse than unaffordable energy is no energy, and that's what the country's going to get if the other side are running the country.

We are putting in other forms of infrastructure. In my electorate we've seen 990 direct jobs and over 2,000 indirect jobs out of the Pacific Highway construction boom between the Oxley Highway and Kempsey. We've had an absolute boom in aged-care construction. We have had over 750 construction jobs created as a result of the expansion in aged-care facilities in Gloucester, Taree, Forster and Hawks Nest in my own electorate. That's been echoed and mirrored around the whole country. Through Minister Wyatt's aged-care expansion, growth is exponentially being improved. With that growth in aged-care facilities comes long-term employment. In my electorate of Lyne, that amounts to 400 long-term local, reliable jobs in the aged-care industry.

We have particular programs for unemployed youth aged 15 to 24. Our Youth Jobs PaTH: Prepare, Trial, Hire program is delivering major dividends for young unemployed. At the moment there are 711 interns engaged in this. There are 643 that have recently been appointed to long-term employment as a result of it, and another 11,600 young people have been employed through the youth bonus wage subsidy. So infrastructure and tax cuts are delivering growth in the economy, and that's why our company tax returns are up and unemployment figures are down.

Other infrastructure is delivering dividends. We've got our National Rail Program. The Inland Rail is going to deliver more growth and more transport efficiencies and allow the hinterland of New South Wales, Victoria and up into South-East Queensland grow because it will be connected to an avenue of commerce. We have the Western Sydney Airport Corporation delivering the Western Sydney Airport. That's going to create another 20,000 jobs by the early 2030s. And there will be 60,000 new jobs from the economic opportunities that will flourish with the $5.3 billion in equity and the development of the Western Sydney Airport. There is our Regional Growth Fund, with $472 million to promote regional infrastructure growth, and the Building Better Regions Fund, which is another $200 million. The biggest infrastructure program is Inland Rail. That is really going to be a structural change that will allow inland Australia to flourish, just as the development of rail across the nation opened up areas north and south during the John Howard government.

We realised we need more skilled tradespeople, so we have a Skilling Australia Fund which is delivering $1½ billion to state and territory governments over the first four years. It will prioritise development of apprenticeships and traineeships. With matched state and territory funding, we think there will be support for 300,000 apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships and trainees. We will get more skilled Australians.

We're trying to get young parents who have dropped out of the labour market back into it with our $263 million investment in the ParentsNext Fund. We have particular packages in place for Indigenous employment. We've got a new career transition assistance program and we've got a better jobseeker compliance network. But it is the fundamentals that are driving the growth in jobs. We are trying to deliver efficiencies and we are helping small business. We've given them a tax cut and they get a better return on investment, which gives them the confidence to employ people. By simplifying all their reporting requirements, we are trying to help small businesses get ahead.

In the building and construction industry, we are bringing the rule of law back so that building is more cost-efficient, prices are lower and we can get much better growth in the construction industry, which, in the North Coast, is probably the biggest growth area of employment, along with disability care. The digital economy is also booming, courtesy of all the initiatives that we have put in place. It is embarrassing that the member for Wakefield chose to make an MPI about unemployment—or, rather, growth of employment—when we've got the best figures we've had in more than a decade.

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