Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry, representing the Minister for Jobs and Innovation. Will the minister update the House on how the government is helping hardworking Australians by supporting the creation of more jobs in our economy? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question. The member for Boothby, like all members on this side of the House, will be delighted that this government has created over a million new jobs in the last 4½ years, which is actually five months earlier than we had scheduled to do so in our promise in 2013. It is an enormous achievement and it's been achieved because this government has methodical, calm, consistent policies that support companies, employers and employees. They are policies like the Australian Building and Construction Commission or the Registered Organisations Commission. The last time the ABCC was in existence, it saved consumers $7½ billion and it increased productivity in building and construction by 16.8 per cent. So it had a real impact, the first time it was in existence, on the economy. Labor promptly abolished it, but this government brought it and the Registered Organisations Commission back. Those policies, working with the government's policies around tax, employment, infrastructure and defence industry, are creating those one million jobs that we promised 4½ years ago and that we have delivered.

We know that, if Labor get back in power again, they will abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the Registered Organisations Commission. They've already promised that. That would be in the agreement with John Setka and the CFMEU. But what else is in the secret agreement with John Setka and the CFMEU? That's what we need to know. The Leader of the Opposition has a secret agreement with John Setka, a man convicted of 59 civil and criminal offences. That's the person they have a secret agreement with, and they need to reveal that agreement to the Australian public.

We know this has been part of a long-term plan of the Leader of the Opposition and the CFMEU. Graham Pallot, the assistant secretary in Western Australia of the CFMEU, said, back in October 2016:

… what we're actually going to do is take ownership and responsibility of the ALP …

And that's exactly what they've done. That's exactly what the CFMEU have done. They've been brought into all the decision-making forums of the ALP by the Leader of the Opposition. He's accepted $2½ million of their donations on behalf of the Labor Party, and he has struck a secret deal with the CFMEU that will hurt jobs and the economy. He needs to reject their donations; he needs to kick them out of the ALP; and he needs to reveal his secret agreement with John Setka.