Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is the end of the session and it is a good time to reflect on the record of this Prime Minister and his government. All we can say—and all Australians are saying it—is that this government has failed again. It has an appalling record of achievement. If a schoolchild were to go home with a report like this government's report, the school and the parents would be saying they needed some special help. This government does need some special help. On all the major indicators and on all the major issues they are failing. On unemployment they are failing—the highest unemployment rate since this Prime Minister was the employment minister. On jobs this government is failing. They are failing to create decent jobs—the good jobs that the Treasurer says people need to be able to afford to buy a home. On housing affordability this government is failing. They dismiss it and say people just need to get a higher paying job, yet they fail to create the jobs people need in order to get a home. What is going on in our schools and hospitals? They have failed to acknowledge their billions of dollars of cuts in schools and hospitals, putting the pressure back on the states and saying that it is a state responsibility. They are failing our schools; they are failing our hospitals. This government's record is on show. People in the community know that this government is failing. The record of the Prime Minister and the government will be judged by the Australian people.