Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin's assertion about there being no jobs plan is simply factually untrue. He knows it's untrue because over the past two weeks he has been debating in this place aspects of our jobs plan and, by all appearances, trying his best to frustrate and delay our plan. I think that most Australians do know about our plan. Those opposite might not wish to recall it, but there was a poll over the weekend showing that, on the question of having a plan and a vision for the future of Australia, the Prime Minister and our government held the widest margin over an opposition at any time in the last 10 years. I'll quote from the article; it said, 'Voters overwhelmingly back Mr Morrison, the Prime Minister, in a time of crisis as having a plan for the future.'

Inconveniently for those opposite, the article went on to add that the results reveal a political problem for Labor and for the Labor leader. While those opposite might wish to focus on their political priorities, Australians know that the government's focus throughout the course of this once-in-100-years crisis has been to save lives and to save livelihoods. The government has this week extended JobKeeper and our other support measures. Australians know that, as we and the rest of the world emerge on the other side of this crisis, it is only the Morrison government which has demonstrated a commitment to move quickly, with policies like JobKeeper, and to consider every lever at our disposal to save jobs, to create new jobs and to maintain our prosperity.

We know that these are extraordinary times and that there are no simple answers and no silver bullets when it comes to addressing the dual health and economic crises of COVID-19. And that's exactly why we have a multipronged jobs plan that leaves no stone unturned when it comes to getting Australians back into work. From our unprecedented economic support packages, to reforms to skills and apprenticeships, to deregulation and cutting red tape, to our industrial relations forms, to the record investments we're making in nation-building infrastructure, to the much-needed reforms we're making to Australia's taxation system—the Morrison governments plan is providing an unprecedented level of policy support for Australia and Australians during COVID-19. And that includes the more than $100 billion that we have committed to the unprecedented JobKeeper program, which to date has seen more than $42 billion delivered in temporary and targeted JobKeeper payments to more than 900,000 businesses, providing income support and a vital economic lifeline to around 3½ million Australian people.

And we continue to provide this unprecedented support to households and businesses by extending the JobKeeper program by six months in the laws that we passed through the parliament just this week. The businesses kept open and the workers whose jobs are saved aren't just statistics as was mentioned on the other side just then; they are our friends, our family and the many tens of thousands of people in the community and on the street who we represent in this chamber. I know I'm not alone when I say that I have met and spoken to thousands of constituents over the course of this crisis who have looked to the federal government for help this year and have been able to rely on the economic and other policy lifelines provided by our government in this moment of significant need. Many of these local constituents, these local businesses, tell us what we know: that the Morrison government's policies, including JobKeeper, are delivering results. More than half of the 1.3 million Australians who have either lost their job or seen their hours reduced to zero during this crisis are now back in work. That support has helped to save 700,000 Australian jobs. The unemployment rate would have been about five per cent higher than it is in Australia today were it not for our support.

We don't seek to downplay or trivialise the unprecedented economic hardship being felt by so many Australians, which was revealed in those figures today. At the same time, it is a reasonable approach to assess how the government's jobs plan is faring in respect to this pandemic. And when you do that it is of course important to compare our experience to that of other comparable nations. The economies of almost all countries will contract this year, according to the IMF, with many of those countries, including countries very much like ours, experiencing huge declines. The figures show staggering declines in GDP around the world—20 per cent in the UK, 14 per cent in France and 10 per cent in Canada. Here in Australia, today's national accounts reveal the pain that Australians are feeling. They show a figure of seven per cent, which is much less than what we are seeing in most of the countries we reasonably compare our situation to. We know that we are not magically immune from the wrecking ball of COVID. We know that Australians are doing it tough at this challenging time. And the government will continue to do everything we can to support Australian households, businesses and our economy.

The government's plan even extends to non-economic portfolios like my own. In the area of waste reduction and recycling, the government's proposed reforms will contribute to 10,000 more jobs being created in the resource recovery sector. Our recycling bills, the first of their kind, combined with our government's Recycling Modernisation Fund and our other reforms around recycling, are of course all designed to accomplish better environmental outcomes in Australia and across our region, including through the reduction of plastics in our oceans. But these recycling bills and other reforms will also achieve economic benefits, economic growth and more resilience in Australia's economy. Creating value through transforming waste-streams back into valuable resources is a better, smarter way of dealing with our waste. And, ultimately, it means prosperity and jobs. The jobs in the resource recovery sector are many and varied: equipment operators, maintenance workers, chemists, scientists, logistics managers. In short, we're building here in Australia the recycling facilities and infrastructure we need to process the waste streams that, until now, we've been sending offshore.

Every Australian needs to see some of the latest technology that's available for sorting and processing waste. It's an eye-opening experience when you see the conveyor belts taking co-mingled recyclables whizzing along at a million miles an hour, and the machines using spectrometry—lasers, essentially—to instantly check whether that piece of plastic is, say, clear PET or white polypropylene, and then the jets of air and magnets and so on pushing them onto different conveyor belts, so that ultimately you get these tubs of perfectly sorted resources. Seeing that is when you realise that this is something we should and can do more of in Australia.

Our recycling modernisation fund, together with contributions from the states and territories and industry, now forms the basis of a $1 billion transformation our government is overseeing of Australia's domestic waste and recycling industries. That is going to create so many new jobs. Those jobs—10,000 new jobs—are what our government's plan, just in this space, is supporting. Many of these new jobs, I hasten to add, will be in exactly the parts of the country where we need to see them the most—in regional Australia and in outer suburbs. Keep in mind: these investments and the new facilities being built will simultaneously help our nation to become more self-reliant and self-sufficient in key industries, including manufacturing and remanufacturing, which is exactly what Australians want to see happening right now.

Whether it's through our ambitious plan for waste and recycling or through the hard work of ministerial colleagues across almost every area of policy and economic reform, our government has a strong, multipronged plan for jobs. In coming years, as we emerge on the other side of this crisis, Australia is going to need a federal government which can be trusted with the economy and which has the proven capacity to help industry to create significant numbers of jobs. If those are the criteria, there is only one government in all of Australia's history that has created, to date, over a million and a half new jobs. That's the track record of this government, and the Morrison government will remain focused on building confidence and momentum in our economy, saving lives and saving livelihoods. We'll remain focused on the road out and on getting Australians back to work.

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