Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You could not make it up. This week in question time we have been hearing from government members—in particular ministers like the Treasurer—trying to talk up this government's record on jobs. The hubris has been just astounding, and the shamelessness is just disgraceful. This would be funny if the human consequences were not so severe. It is telling that, through the statistics that get recited from across the chamber, we do not hear a couple of things. We do not hear about the 800,000 people presently unemployed in Australia. We do not hear those opposite utter the unemployment rate—a number with a six in front of it, Parliamentary Secretary Tudge, in contrast to our record during the depths of the global financial crisis.

We discovered today more evidence from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare about the impact on young Australians. People's lives are being treated as disposable. The unemployment rate for young Australians is 13.3 per cent. It is over 20 per cent in parts of my electorate. What is worse than the government's hubris is its neglect of the future. We still do not have a plan for jobs. Saying the word over and over again is no substitute for investing in young people. It is no substitute for investing in the industries of the future. It is no substitute for listening to the concerns of my constituents, the member for Lalor's constituents and the member for Newcastle's constituents and giving them the voice that they deserve in this parliament on the issues that matter the most.