Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on the impact the economic stimulus package and cooperative workplace relations are having on job creation?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bonner for her question and know that she, like all members of the Rudd Labor government, is unapologetic about supporting jobs in our economy today. We are unapologetic about taking decisive measures to keep Australians working. Whilst those opposite sit and wait and watch the unemployment numbers go up, the Rudd government has decided to provide immediate stimulus to the Australian economy to make a difference to the ability of Australians to secure and stay in work. Without that decisive action we would have seen, and would have continued to see, more than 200,000 extra Australians out of work—something that members opposite should reflect on. We know that employment and unemployment are lagging indicators of economic activity. That is why, even with the decisive action the government has taken to provide economic stimulus to the economy, the government understands and has been clear about the unhappy truth that we expect unemployment to rise over the coming months and we will see new indications in the unemployment figures later this week.

I am very pleased to be able to report to the House that during these difficult economic times—during the days of the global recession—we are seeing employers and employees, employer organisations and trade unions working together to do what they can to keep people employed. What we have seen with the employment numbers over the last six months is a rise in part-time work and a reduction in full-time work. This would, in part, reflect the fact that many firms have learnt the lesson and are doing everything they can to keep their valued staff in work during these difficult economic days. And this is good news, because once Australians become unemployed statistics tell us it can be a difficult road back. During the 1980s the unemployment rate jumped from 5.4 per cent to 10.4 per cent in two years. It took another six years to get it back down. In the 1990s the unemployment rate increased by a similar amount in the space of three years, but this time it took 11 years to get it back down. So keeping people connected to work is a very important thing to do. That is what economic stimulus is about and that is what these cooperative workplace arrangements are all about. I would point in that regard to the example of Mitsubishi Motors, which in February this year announced it would be closing its assembly vehicle plant in Adelaide.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was last year.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, February last year; thank you very much. That resulted in 930 direct job losses, but there were cooperative arrangements to help those affected workers secure work and those cooperative arrangements were supported by both state and federal governments. We have seen short-time working arrangements entered into—for example, at Holden—where short-time working arrangements have kept people connected to the workforce. These are important developments that we are seeing across the nation—employers of goodwill working together with employees and trade unions to make arrangements during these difficult days of the global recession. The government supports and applauds the efforts of those working together with economic stimulus. They are providing support to Australians and keeping Australians working.