Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

We had the amazing spectacle in question time in this House today of a Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations who is about to change the industrial relations system in this country but is unable to guarantee that this system will not destroy jobs. Similarly, the Prime Minister was asked if he will be able to guarantee if his industrial relations changes—the new Fair Work Bill—will not destroy the livelihoods of thousands of Australians. There was no answer, no guarantee. The government just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘Oh well, there is a global financial crisis. It is not our problem. We don’t have anything to do with it. People are going to lose their jobs, but it is all happening overseas.’

The global financial crisis cannot be used as an alibi for every job loss that has occurred in Australia and that will occur once Labor makes its industrial relations changes. Every time the government makes an announcement about a new policy it is accompanied by a cash splash. Any stimulus package is accompanied by a figure of the number of jobs they believe that this new policy will create. Apparently it is very easy for Treasury to look at what the government is doing and decide how many jobs that particular policy is going to create.

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