Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We did not hear about jobs last night. We hear that unemployment is going to increase under this government. The jobs embassy is back. It is back on the lawns out the front of Parliament House, because of the government's failure to have a decent policy on creating decent, secure jobs in this country. The government do not have a plan for future industries. They do not have a plan for growing and sustaining our industries. And they definitely do not have a plan for building good, secure jobs and a Fair Work Act that respects and that ensures decent jobs going forward.

Last night's budget was a shocker, and all of us will get a chance to reflect on its cuts to education, its cuts to health and its cuts to university students, including the fact that it could force regional campuses to close because of funding cuts compounding with the drop in student numbers from the forcing up of fees. The budget is demonstration, again, that the government do not understand, that they represent the top end of town, not the regions, not communities, not men and women and their families, and definitely not the electorate of Bendigo. But the government's failure on jobs is what we really need to highlight. They need a decent jobs plan.

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