Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

What we have seen on display today is a government in decline, a government that has reached the end of being able to provide any answers to the big problems facing Australia; a government that relies on these three-line phrases. They run all their arguments based on rhetoric and spin, but they do not really care about the big issues—the big issues such as unemployment, the big issues such as jobs and the big issues such as rights for workers in this country.

And you only have to look at Senator Abetz's response to the problems that we have now in the waterfront at Hutchison Ports in Sydney and in Perth. We have a government now that initially said it was okay to be sacked by text message in the middle of the night. That is what they did. Then, when people were appalled by this, we had Senator Abetz issuing a statement the following day trying to explain what he meant. We know what he meant; he meant that you could be sacked by text message and this government did not really care. That is the reality of this government. On workplace relations they are really the people who do not accept rights for workers in this country.

Imagine being lectured by Senator Abetz. Imagine the Senate being lectured by Senator Abetz on extreme ideology. What a joke! All the extreme ideology on workplace relations has come from Senator Abetz in this place over many years. Senator Abetz was the chief proponent of Work Choices in this place; where penalty rates were ripped away from workers; where workers' rights were decimated by legislative action in this place. When the coalition had full control in the Senate, they set about trying to destroy workers' rights in this country under the guise of Work Choices.

They have also come here today and argued about employment. We hear the Prime Minister talk about employment. If the Prime Minister was really serious about employment, he would do something about the jobs in the shipbuilding industry; where 610 jobs have been lost at Forgacs in Newcastle; where hundreds more jobs have been lost in Williamstown; where the supply ships for this country were sent over to Korea, and Australian shipbuilders were not given the opportunity to build them; where, as a direct result of decisions of this government in their budget, 400 jobs have gone at the ABC.

Prior to the election, they promised there would be no cuts to the ABC; yet 400 jobs have gone at the ABC. They told manufacturing workers that their jobs would be safe. Yet what do we have from this government when they came in? They actually chased General Motors and Toyota out of the country. Advanced nations all over the world want these jobs. Advanced nations know the importance of automotive jobs to their economies. Yet we chase them out of this country. Some estimates are that it will cost 200,000 jobs in the economy, with about $29 billion of lost economic activity in this country. That is this government's record on jobs. It is absolutely abysmal.

They said they would build 12 submarines in South Australia. That was another Liberal lie. It was not delivered when they came to government. Those submarines, as we all know, will be built in Japan if this government gets away with it. We are going to hold this government to account on jobs. We are going to hold them to account on industrial relations. We are going to hold them to account on the promises they have walked away from. No wonder the Australian public are saying they have had enough of this motley crew that call themselves a government. They are on their last legs. They are not supported by the country and they will not last very much longer. (Time expired)