Dave Tollner (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister inform the House what impact the removal of unfair dismissal laws has had on small business, particularly those in the Northern Territory? What could jeopardise this improvement?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his question. He told me that Sharan Burrow was up in Darwin last Friday. Her timing was impeccable. I would back the member for Solomon in an arm wrestle with Sharan Burrow any day. It would be close, but I would back him any day. The member for Solomon told me that, in the months before the introduction of Work Choices in February 2006, the unemployment rate in the Northern Territory was 6.4 per cent. Last Thursday the unemployment rate fell to two per cent. It fell from 6.4 per cent in February 2006 to two per cent last Thursday.

Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Laming interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Bowman is interjecting from outside his seat. He is warned.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no doubt that small business has embraced the removal of the unfair dismissal laws and seen it as an opportunity to employ more people. I note that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Treasurer have been saying that job creation over the last 12 months has come from the mining industry. I dug into the figures a little bit and found that, of the 240,000 new jobs that have been created since Work Choices was introduced, 46,000 were in wholesale trade, 43,000 in construction, 34,500 in finance and insurance, and only 14,000 in mining. It is hard to believe but I think there might have been a little porky in the opposition line. It is disappointing, because job growth comes about by creating incentives for employers to employ more people. The government is not in the business of creating jobs; only business can create jobs. So removing something like the unfair dismissal laws is going to have a positive impact on job creation.

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said yesterday that she is going to consult small business. She is walking down one side of the street saying, ‘We’re going to be the friend of small business; we’re going to consult with them about the removal of the unfair dismissal laws,’ and on the other side of the street the Labor Party and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition have voted 44 times against the removal of the unfair dismissal laws. They are on the road to Damascus. You can see Julia and Kevin holding hands, walking down the road, telling one story to one side of the street and another story to the other side of the street.

This has happened not just on unfair dismissal. The new-found Leader of the Opposition said that he is concerned about the interests of independent contractors, yet last year the Labor Party voted in this parliament against protecting the interests of independent contractors. They are walking down one side of the street and speaking to the other side of the street at the same time. The Labor Party even pretended to be the friend of the Tristar workers, yet in this place last year the Labor Party voted against the 12-month redundancy protection for the Tristar workers. They are telling them one thing on one side of the street and voting against the workers on the other side of the street. They are going to try to run this charade of telling people one story but doing the other. We know the Labor Party’s agenda; it is the unions’ agenda. It is to close down small business, not to create jobs, and it will lead to a deterioration in the employment and workplace relations environment. The Labor Party is about closing down jobs, not creating jobs.