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

It is about the fact that there are more than half a million Australians on the dole and they are not applying for jobs in the way that they should be and have been in the past from time to time. We are in a glorious age where there are more jobs than workers. It is a great return to the golden era of the fifties and sixties when we had a low level of unemployment and high wages.

I make this final point: the Australian government would always rather see an Australian in an Australian job than a foreigner in an Australian job. That is a fundamental point. But it is also the case that if employers cannot find someone to do a hard day’s work then they have to go somewhere to get the workers. It is about the economic prosperity of the country and the economic prosperity of regional Australia.

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