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

I thank the member for Leichhardt for his question and note his interest in jobs. In addition to the $3.6 billion Welfare to Work program, which is going very well, Centrelink has been holding a series of job expos in remote parts of Australia and held one in Mount Isa last week. At that job expo, more than 500 people made their way through over 35 stalls and there were more than 250 jobs advertised. The government believes in matching potential workers with real jobs. The two questions that are being asked by potential workers are these: firstly, ‘Are my wages going to be good?’ Under the Howard government, real wages have increased by more than 16 per cent over the last 10 years. That is a great outcome for Australia’s workers. The second question they ask is: ‘What about my job security?’

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