Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

This Treasurer and this government have put great emphasis on the creation of jobs as a core priority. That is as it should be. The coalition fully supports this objective. When all the issues are boiled down, however, the best way to ensure prosperity for Australia is to ensure that everyone who wants a job has a job. At the press conference following the budget lock-up in May this year, the Treasurer said: 'I was asked downstairs before, what do you think is the centrepiece of the budget? Well, it's jobs, jobs, jobs.' In the last sitting week, the Treasurer repeated this theme:

We on this side of the House understand the importance of jobs and the dignity of work. The dignity of work is so important not just to individual families but to an economy. That is why we put such a high priority on jobs.

Unfortunately the Treasurer is not backing his rhetoric with results. The labour market is deteriorating. Jobs are being lost. The number of unemployed is rising.

The August Labour Force report showed that 23,200 jobs have been lost since March. More serious for families is that 68,000 full-time jobs have disappeared—that is, 68,000 former breadwinners who can no longer put food on the table. The number of full-time jobs is now around the same as it was back in November 2010. There has been no full-time jobs growth in Australia for nine months. The unemployment rate has increased from a recent low of 4.9 per cent to 5.3 per cent in August. The figures for September will come out later this week. The fall in the number of job advertisements tracked by the ANZ survey is a portent of what that may mean.

Out of all of that, the number of people looking for work has jumped by 52,600 since April. The August figure for unemployment was the highest rate since October last year. These figures would not yet include the full impact of coming job losses: at BlueScope Steel, 1,400 jobs; at OneSteel, 400 jobs; and at Qantas, 1,000 jobs—and Westpac, one of Australia's largest employers, has flagged significant job losses. In the May budget, the government forecast the unemployment rate to fall to 4.75 per cent by June next year. This forecast is now clearly at risk.

It is not just one sector doing it tough; the job losses have been widely spread across industries. Over the six months to August there were nearly 50,000 jobs lost in manufacturing in Australia; 21,000 job losses from wholesale trades; 5,000 from retail; 18,000 from accommodation and food services, which is effectively the tourism industry, particularly in regional and remote areas; 13,000 job losses in transport; 7,000 job losses in media and communications; 8,000 job losses in the property industry; and 9,000 jobs lost from scientific and professional services.

There has been some job growth. Mining jobs are up 21,000, as you would expect, and associated construction is up 30,000. But the job gains in these high-growth sectors were not enough to make up for the losses in those sectors of the economy outside of the mining sector. The mining sector represents about nine per cent of our economy—just two per cent of direct jobs in Australia. The challenge is for the rest of the economy that is being left behind. There is clear evidence that the non-mining sectors are being squeezed very hard by higher interest rates and a high Australian dollar. It might also be that capricious decisions by this government, for example, live cattle exports which was one of the worst decisions I have seen in 15 years in this place—

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