House debates Matters of Public Importance
Economy
Andrew Laming Bowman, Liberal Party
4:05 pm
Let's move to the grounds upon which we have decided, since 2013, to bring to this place the very simple principle that, if you take income replacement for having a job, you've got to be ready to do a job—if you're healthy and of working age. It's absolutely logical that you can't be addicted to drugs and still be able to turn up and do a job. There are 3½ million Australians out there who are drug tested in the workplace—3½ million Australians who can lose their job and get a criminal record if they're on the juice. And this group over here cannot handle a trial of 5,000 drug tests, with an embedded $10 million of support for drug rehabilitation and treatment, because they regard it as a 'violation of human rights'.
This Labor opposition feel that unemployment is genetic—that you stay there forever and just moan about the unemployment rates. But this government says: 'No, it's not. It is a transition back into work.' We have the audacity to hope that every person on the payment will one day get a job. And do you know what?
Opposition members interjecting—
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