Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to refer to the speech by the member for Forrest, the previous speaker. I am proud of Labor's legacy. I am proud of the fact that we created nearly one million jobs. I am proud of the fact that we saved 200,000 jobs during the global financial crisis, while those on the other side were asleep during the votes. I am proud of the fact that for the first time in our history we had a AAA credit rating from all three credit agencies. I am proud of the fact that we had contained inflation. I am proud of the fact that we had growing labour productivity. I am proud of the fact that, unlike countries that followed austerity measures, which those over there talk about all of the time, we had a growing economy with a strong chance under Labor at the time to keep on growing.

I tend to agree with the member for Chifley. I differ slightly with the member for McMahon, and I know it is a risky strategy. But the government do have a plan. It is called 'Hockeynomics'. Under their esteemed Treasurer they have a four-point plan for the economy: one, kill manufacturing; two, string Qantas along; three, return infrastructure planning to the minister for pork-barrelling, who is otherwise known as the Deputy Prime Minister; and, four, when in doubt blame it on everyone else. That is their four-point plan.

There is no clearer indication that they do not understand economics than manufacturing. They are led by a man who Peter Costello said you cannot trust on economics, a man who assured industries, including the auto industry, that they would be safe under him—'Don't worry about what we say before the election, you will be safe under an Abbott government.' What did the car industry say before the election? 'If you cut assistance by $500 million, like you are planning to do, we will leave.' But the government said: 'No, trust us. "Hockeynomics" will get you through it.'

What happened after the election? They confirmed their $500 million cut to auto industry assistance and Holden said it was leaving. Without Holden supporting the supply chain, Toyota has no choice but to leave this country as well. What is the result of this? Some 50,000 direct jobs will be gone and another 200,000 jobs are on the chopping block. The industry is devastated and north Adelaide and the western suburbs of Melbourne are under threat. This is all because 'Hockeynomics' said: 'We don't take what companies say seriously. We're just going to institute our flat earth theory of economics.'

Sadly, it is not limited to just Holden and Toyota. We have seen job losses at Forge and significant job losses at Caterpillar in Tasmania. These are all foreshadowed job losses, as the member for McMahon alluded to. We have already seen 60,000 full-time jobs leave the economy under their stewardship. That is part of their plan: kill manufacturing. We have seen the other part of their plan: string Qantas along. For three months the Treasurer was laying the groundwork for intervention. He said that there are four grounds on which Qantas is a special case, and they were four very important points. Qantas went along with that, and what did we see? We saw the Treasurer rolled by the Prime Minister and running down the rabbit hole of foreign ownership instead of doing what is really needed and looking at a debt guarantee.

This keeps going on. We have seen the gutting of Infrastructure Australia, a great body that would increase productivity and get infrastructure investment going in this country. We are now seeing worrying figures on capital investment. A very worrying statistic came out last week that non-mining capital expenditure has fallen by just under five per cent in the last quarter. We need this investment, because the mining boom is coming off as investment is completed and they shift to the production phase. We need the non-mining sector to pick up, but we are seeing a five per cent fall in non-mining capital investment under this government. I do not know where their plan is going to lead us next—it is very worrying.

We are trying to be positive. We have offered solutions. The best solution is for those opposite to continue Labor's $1 billion Australian jobs plan. That plan was centred around innovation precincts. It would bring the best and brightest from the innovation community, from academia, together with business. That was one part of the plan. Another part was to inject much-needed venture capital into our small businesses. A third part was the Australian Jobs Act, which for the first time gave Australian businesses a chance of winning work on large projects that are going on. That was all rejected because those opposite have their plan—Hockeynomics: kill manufacturing, string Qantas along, return infrastructure planning to the minister for pork-barrelling and blame everyone else. When in doubt, blame everyone else. That is a sad shame. It is the country that will suffer from the return of Hockeynomics.

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