Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Unemployment in Australia is higher than in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany. Is this what the Prime Minister means when he says 'so far, so good'?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member knows very well—very, very well indeed—that we have seen strong jobs growth. But we have more work to do. He understands, and he should understand from his background with the CFMEU, how important it is to have investment in the building sector. And he would understand very well how important it is to restore the rule of law to the building and construction sector—how important it is to drive more jobs in the construction sector by getting rid of that 30 per cent cost loading that we currently have because of the lawlessness in that sector. He is right to draw attention, however, to the fact, as I outlined in my speech earlier today, that not all Australians are doing as well as they should, as we would like them to do. We do recognise that growth must be inclusive. We do recognise that we need to deal with sections of the community, parts of Australia, where there has been disruption, where there have been big sectoral changes that have undermined employment in those areas.

That is why we are seeing strong support for regional jobs program. That is one of the reasons why we were able to secure the agreement with Singapore—over $2 billion going into new investments in Townsville and in Shoalwater Bay. Those are investments that will drive jobs and growth in Queensland and areas hard hit by the downturn in the resources boom. Of course, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which the CFMEU opposed violently, and the Labor Party opposed until the last minute, is driving jobs and growth. That is driving jobs in the region.

Many Australians are facing challenges in terms of the cost of living. Not everyone is like Senator Dastyari, who, when he cannot pay a bill, just gets a donor to pick it up. This is the man the Labor Party defended all last week. The party of equity, the party of fairness, the party of the downtrodden—they defended Sam Dastyari, who, when he was presented with a bill, unlike any other Australian, who would pay it themselves, who would put their hand in their own pockets—oh, no—he asked his Chinese sponsor to do it. And, when he was asked, 'Why did you do that,' he prevaricated. He prevaricated but then finally, in a burst of candour that struck like a lightning bolt across the political firmament, he said: 'I asked him for the money because I didn't want to pay the bill myself.' Those are the standards of the Labor Party. Don't lecture us about fairness; look to your own house, look to your own machine, look to your own hypocrisy.