Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is nothing more fundamental in terms of the core responsibilities of government than to provide an economic environment that fosters growth. There is nothing more fundamental that flows from an economic environment that fosters growth than the ability for someone to secure a job. In my city, the Gold Coast, Australia's sixth largest city, we have seen now the compounding consequences of Labor's stubborn refusal to adopt policy that is in Australia's economic interests and in the interests of my constituents on the Gold Coast, who are now facing the ravages of bad policy decisions, which are driving up unemployment. It has not always been this way on the Gold Coast. Traditionally this services based city has enjoyed levels of unemployment much lower than they are today. Historically the Gold Coast has had above national average levels of unemployment. But the previous coalition government recognised that there were policy decisions that could be taken, and, importantly, we took them, to empower small business owners, for example, to take the risk of putting on new staff, knowing full well that they would have the flexibility to make decisions about the consequences of that employment. These were the kinds of policies that drove unemployment down in a small business city like the Gold Coast.

As a direct result of coalition policies, in Australia's sixth largest city the unemployment rate went from historically sitting above the national average to reaching a low in January 2008 of 2.3 per cent. There can be no doubt that that was a direct consequence of a number of the coalition's policies and the management of the Australian economy that the coalition had fostered for the 13 or so years previously.

In four short years, we have seen the consequences of Labor's economic recklessness with respect to the job prospects of so many of my constituents. We have seen the consequences of Labor's bungled bank guarantee. We have seen it drive away non-bank lenders and drive many of them to the wall, so that non-bank lenders, which historically accounted for over 10 per cent of the lending market, now account for something like two per cent of the lending market. This source of capital was crucial for the development industry in my city of the Gold Coast and provided a massive amount of employment for local Gold Coasters.

We have seen, in addition to that, the consequences of Labor's debt and deficit. Incidentally, in the budget handed down just last night, net debt reached a record $106 billion and we saw the budget deficit blow out to nearly $50 billion for this financial year, expected to be $22 billion in the subsequent financial year. These levels of debt and deficit are forcing up interest rates. So the bungled bank deposits guarantee, coupled with debt and deficit from the Labor Party forcing up interest rates, have killed off the construction industry.

Another consequence has been the rapid appreciation of the Australian dollar. The Australian dollar is rapidly appreciating as a consequence of expectations about interest rates in this country. And interest rates are going up in this country because the government is spending like a drunken sailor. Because the Australian dollar is appreciating rapidly, we now have a situation where international tourists are finding Australia too expensive to visit, and domestic tourists are finding it advantageous to travel abroad.

The Gold Coast is now seeing more tourists travelling overseas than there are international tourists coming to Australia. And tourism is the single largest employer of local Gold Coasters. The simple reality is that now, when the Gold Coast has nearly double the national average of unemployment, at eight per cent, there are some important policy changes that need to happen for the Labor government to bring down the unemployment rate. There is assistance that should flow from Labor to help the Gold Coast in its hour of need. Instead of assisting, they have turned their back on the city.