Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They don't like hearing this, do they? It's a radical proposition.

An honourable member interjectin g—

He's yelling out funny little program names. That's the problem—there was never a structural response to anything that the nation faced. There were bandaids, sticky tapes and cute little announcements. Does anyone remember JobMaker? It was going to create 100,000 jobs. It created one per cent of the target, if that—JobFaker! It was a decade of dysfunction and division, with a trillion dollars of Liberal debt that the next generation's going to be asked to repay, and a budget riddled with waste and rorts. It was a test, though, for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Had he heard any kind of message? Did he realise the challenges were serious, that Australians wanted a different kind of politics? No. It's a test that the Liberals failed. He chose to hide at home, to hide in the dark, isolated and humiliated.

Now, Labor didn't make this mess, but we are taking responsibility for cleaning it up. I was delighted to see real practical outcomes at the end of the summit. There will be 180,000 new fee-free TAFE places to strengthen TAFE; income credit for aged pensioners who want to work to earn extra—$4,000 this financial year; work on housing; and restoring a national consensus in favour of permanent skilled migration that does our nation well. (Time expired)

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