John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the 200 jobs lost at CBH Resources and the 40 jobs lost at Tip Top bakery in my electorate of Calare. Can the Prime Minister inform the House how many more jobs are due to be lost in my electorate in the next 12 months?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the honourable member would be aware, in the government’s budget forecast we projected that the unemployment rate in Australia would rise to 4.75 per cent in 2008-09. We understand that many businesses across Australia are doing it tough and that is why the government believes it is important to prosecute a strategy of responsible economic management. We intend to do that, because one of the greatest obstacles which businesses face across the country is access to affordable credit. If you look at the challenges which many businesses have had in securing not just lines of credit but also affordable credit, it has been a real challenge out there, as it has been for Australian households. That is why, if you have been operating as a business with lines of credit and you have faced real challenges with 10 interest rate rises in a row on the part of the monetary policy settings of Australia during the period when those opposite were in office, the cumulative effect of that in terms of your interest rate bill is very significant indeed. Therefore, the most responsible course of action that governments can take through fiscal policy is to make sure that you are lining up your fiscal policy direction with your monetary policy direction so that you create an environment whereby the Reserve Bank of Australia has an easier time when it comes to bringing down interest rates. That is what this government has been doing. We stand by the responsible economic management approach which we adopted through the budget—anchored in a $22 billion budget surplus—and its organising principle, in large measure, was to put downward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on interest rates.

I say to the honourable member, in relation to both businesses in his electorate and businesses operating in all electorates across the country, that one of the core responsibilities we as a government have in pursuing budget policy is to make sure that we provide maximum room for the Reserve Bank of Australia to bring interest rates down. That is what we have sought to do through the budget. This is, however, simply the first step. We have an important series of economic policy decisions which lie ahead, but the overriding discipline is to make sure that the businesses in Australia have the best possible set of arrangements when it comes to their credit facilities with their financial institutions and what they are charged by way of interest rates.

The second thing I say to the honourable member is this: when any employee is faced with the challenge of unemployment or redundancy, one of the key questions they ask is, ‘What are the industrial relations conditions under which I am employed?’ I am not familiar with those circumstances which pertain to the businesses which the honourable member refers to, but can I say to the honourable member that one of the things which were part and parcel of the industrial relations system which he supported in the parliament when he was on this side of the chamber was Work Choices, and one of the features of Work Choices was an ability for employers to strip out redundancy arrangements without a cent of compensation.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: not only has the Prime Minister got his facts wrong on the answer he is giving but he is not actually answering the question. The question was very specific: how many jobs are going to be lost in the member for Calare’s electorate over the next 12 months? Simple.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will respond to the question.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the question of redundancy entitlements, for any employee losing their job, one of the first questions which an employee asks in those circumstances is, ‘What protection do I have?’ Under Work Choices, those protections were systematically stripped away, which is why this government has said that it has been elected on a platform to abolish Work Choices and to abolish the capacity of firms to make AWAs into the future. That is what we have set out to do. We think that is an important element for all workers across Australia, particularly as they and their businesses negotiate difficult economic times. So my answer to the honourable member is: responsible economic management to ensure that we have maximum downward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on interest rates, because the affordability of capital affects both households and businesses and, therefore, the ability of businesses to employ and to grow; and, secondly, to make sure we have a fair and flexible industrial relations system for those employees who find themselves in a difficult situation and to make sure that we have a set of industrial relations laws which provides those employees at least with a right to redundancy. And that is what this government stands for.