Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed it was a sobering set of national account figures that were announced today, but they presented the story that we already knew, and that was that Australians are doing it tough, right across the country, because of the COVID-19 recession. But what Australians right round the country know, as they're dealing with the COVID-19 recession, is that the Morrison government has their back. They know that the Morrison government has created jobs before, over a million of them, and that we can do it again. They know that the Morrison government stepped in very quickly once the full scale of COVID-19 became clear, to introduce JobKeeper and JobSeeker—and it was only yesterday that the government passed our extension to JobKeeper, a program keeping thousands of Australians in jobs in one of the toughest times, a program which represents the largest economic lifeline in Australian history, a program without which Treasury estimates Australia's unemployment rate would be five percentage points higher.

Labor members are all over the shop when it comes to JobKeeper and other support measures. First they want to claim that it was their idea, then they want to run it down, then they want it amended, then they want it extended, then they want it reduced, then they want to vote against it. The Australian people simply do not know where Labor members stand on this and other issues. They do know one thing: that Labor members opposite have a plan. They have a plan to try and keep their own jobs by playing politics with the COVID recession and the COVID pandemic. That's not the plan that the Australian people want. The Australian people know that, in contrast, the Morrison government will never stray from the task of keeping Australians in jobs and creating new jobs wherever possible. Prior to COVID-19, we had already created 1.5 million jobs right across this country. Under this government, female participation levels had risen and the gender pay gap had fallen to record lows. We promised that we would create jobs, and we did it. And now we will do it again.

I've been talking to a local business owner—as I'm sure other MPs have been talking to local business owners in their electorates—about how they're affected by the COVID-19 recession. This business owner put it to me very, very simply. JobKeeper was what enabled him to keep his business open and his employees in work. He described it simply as this: 'Julian, it saved our bacon.' Now, they are not saying that about the Labor members opposite. They're not saying that about the Labor state governments around the country. They weren't saying that when the Labor members opposite took $387 billion worth of new taxes to the last election. That's still their plan, by the way. Imagine if we had gone into the COVID-19 recession saddled with Shorten's $387 billion worth of taxes—taxes that Labor members opposite still have as their policy today.

The most important part of Australia's economic recovery is getting Australians back into jobs, and that is what we are focused on. The Prime Minister and the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Michaelia Cash, are doing that through the JobMaker program, preparing our labour market for the future by strengthening the education and training sector. We know that the jobs that come after the COVID-19 pandemic may not be the same jobs that were lost during it, so it's vitally important that we are prepped and ready with the skills we need to rebuild and recover.

I made the point earlier that Labor MPs only have one plan, and that is to keep their own jobs by playing politics. Nowhere is it more stark than in my home state of Queensland, with its Labor state government. The politics that they are playing with the COVID recession sadden me. They would try and blame all of Queensland's woes on the COVID-19 recession. But we remember that it was under the Queensland Labor state government that before coronavirus, Queensland had the highest unemployment; before coronavirus, Queensland had the highest number of business bankruptcies; and before coronavirus, Queensland had the lowest level of business confidence of any state. They're the only state not to bring down a budget. I know Australians will take the plan of Morrison government MPs over Labor MPs any day of the week, because we are about creating jobs, not about our own. (Time expired)

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