Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

It is having a bad impact on employment and a bad impact on business performance because it has pushed up the cost of doing business in Western Australia. It has undermined the confidence in a particularly important industry for Western Australia.

The point I would make, again, in relation to employment in Western Australia is that when Labor was elected to government in December 2007 the unemployment rate in Western Australia was 3.3 per cent. Now, after six years of Labor, and the mining tax and the carbon tax impost on Western Australia, unemployment in WA is 5.9 per cent. That is a direct result of Labor putting more and more burdens on the Western Australian economy, arguably at the worst possible time. Instead of helping businesses across Australia—in particular, Western Australia—to be more successful, to be more competitive internationally, Labor just kept putting more and more burdens onto business shoulders, slowing business down, and the results are there for all to see, raising unemployment. (Time expired)