Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with sadness that we have to stand and declare the reality that exists in this great country on this day—that is, that the Abbott government is presiding over the highest unemployment rate since 2002 and the highest number of unemployed Australians since 1994. That is a great shame on this nation, and it reveals the litany of mistruths that were told by those opposite before they came into power. Somehow they thought that, by simply arriving, the economy would take a turn for the better and everything would be rosy in the world of Liberaldom under Tony Abbott. But what we are seeing is the proof that this government is inadequate in terms of its capacity to govern, and the people who are paying the price for the incapacity of this government are the most vulnerable, particularly the unemployed.

The Prime Minister visited the Central Coast in the period since parliament last sat. He did not come to give anything to the Central Coast, though; he came to take money away at private fundraisers that people had to have invitations to go to. In addition to taking that away, he stood proudly and declared to the local newspaper that he had the honour of being the employment minister for several years in the Howard government and claimed his great success. But, in fact, these figures today take us back to exactly the same figures that existed when he was the minister for employment. I should call him the minister for unemployment, because that is the truth. As the minister for employment in the Howard government and now as the Prime Minister, the worst unemployment figures have been under the watch of Tony Abbott.

Indeed, Mrs Karen McNamara, the member for Dobell, standing alongside Mrs Lucy Wicks, the member for Robertson, indicated to the local newspaper:

Unfortunately, for too long the unemployment rate on the Central Coast has been at unacceptable levels … it's well above the national and state level.

I do not know how they are actually able to discern that, because the material that arrived at my office with a cover letter from Minister Hartsuyker did not declare any of the statistics for the Central Coast. That is another great thing that has happened since this government came in: they have withdrawn the statistics about the Central Coast and have drawn them into Greater Sydney, so they can hide the shame of what they are inflicting on the Central Coast community. Mrs McNamara went on to say:

I have been knocking on their doors—

referring to the Assistant Minister for Employment and the Prime Minister—

for the last two years saying we need to do something about this.

Indeed, the Prime Minister did do something about it. He came and he announced the Work for the Dole program. But did he go out to the sites where the people are going to work for the dole? No. He did not take the cameras out to the sites which are by the coast—away from many places where these young unemployed people live—where people are now going to pull weeds from the ground. That is their Work for the Dole program.

What sort of skill development is that for young unemployed Australians? What sort of shame is that to put them under? We love our environment on the Central Coast, but we do not pretend—certainly on this side of the chamber—that that skill development is going to get you a qualification and a job. And his mate, Mike Baird, in the state of New South Wales, is increasing the price of TAFE to such a point that young unemployed people cannot fathom any possible way out of the unemployment situation they find themselves in. To add insult to injury, Mrs Wicks, the member for Robertson, constantly proclaims to one and all that she has created 600 jobs on the Central Coast. Let us get some facts on the table here. The 600 jobs that she talks about are on the never-never. When the Prime Minister was on the coast he indicated that there 'might' be a refit of some building in Gosford in 2016. I remind anybody listening that that is likely to be after the next election. He then said that there 'could perhaps' be some of these 600 jobs in 2017. People who are in years 11 and 12 now might have a chance to get some of those jobs, but even that is unlikely.

The reality is that this government are not believed, as Senator Cameron indicated, by anybody anymore. They have told so many porkies over such a long period of time that no-one trusts them, and the people on the Central Coast know they cannot trust the Liberal members who continue to lie about job creation. The fact is that we are sitting here in this chamber at a time when unemployment is at its highest level since 2002 and we have the highest number of employed since 1994. Shame on this Abbott government! (Time expired)