Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

To the Leader of the Opposition I say this: the government and, I think, most Australians have the view that if you have the capacity to work you should work, and it is a fundamental principle that each and every minute of the day Australian taxpayers spend $11,280 in payments for the dole. Every minute of every hour of every day $11,280 goes out the taxpayers’ door to people on the dole. When you go to country towns and speak to the workers and to businesses—to places such as Lismore, where the member for Page has made a good point about the fact that it has an unemployment rate of over eight per cent—you are told there are businesses that are crying out for skilled and unskilled workers. There is not a skills shortage in Australia; there is a labour shortage in Australia.

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