Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not sure my friend Senator Gallacher meant to pay compliments to the government, but indeed he did. Perhaps I could just reflect on the part of his contribution where he said he had been downtown and the worksites were buzzing, with people working everywhere. He talked about a $100 billion investment in infrastructure in Victoria. Well, how does Senator Gallacher think that has come about? That's an endorsement of the efforts of this government. If you want to just rewind and go back to under Labor, if you want to talk about employment opportunities and sites buzzing, unemployment increased by 39 per cent under the former Labor government—39 per cent! In their last year in office, unemployment rose by 33,000 people. So, there wouldn't have been things buzzing down in downtown Canberra. Things wouldn't be buzzing and we wouldn't see cranes on the horizon in Victoria under a government that, of course, was crippled, and crippled us, with massive intergenerational debt. The reason the sites were buzzing and the reason we can do $100 billion of investment in Victoria alone, and that's just one state, is that this government, with its focus and its resolve, has increased jobs—over one million jobs: 1,086,806 at the time of the briefing, in less than five years. Compare the two: a 39 per cent reduction in employment versus over one million jobs having been created under this government. Let's do a comparison: since September 2015, a total of 770,000 new jobs have been created, more than half of them full-time jobs—410,000. That's why the sites in the middle of Canberra are buzzing. That's why you're able to do $100 billion of projects in Victoria. That money has come largely from the efforts of this federal government as it has distributed the wealth of the nation to the best it can in very, very difficult economic circumstances. In Labor's last year in office, unemployment rose by 33,000. That compares with new employment of 10 times that, just in the last 12 months—339,000 new jobs. Many of those employment opportunities have been created for those people who have relied for so long upon the Australian Labor Party to be their champion and to provide an environment where they can, with confidence, all get some work.

My interest has always been, and remains, in the areas of agriculture and what I call provincial Australia. Not only did we inherit a debt but we inherited a decision by the Australian Labor Party to cease the live cattle trade to Indonesia. I know you're tired of hearing me talk about this, but the impacts of that decision are still playing through the balance sheets of so many tens of thousands of family farms and enterprises around the country. It drove hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of head of cattle that were destined for overseas markets onto the domestic market—and, of course, it drove the commodity price for beef down as low as it's been for some 30 years, pound for pound. Then came the drought. Many of our people in provincial Australia would have been in a more resilient position to be able to deal with these long periods of dry—we've had 19 of them now, with 11 major droughts since we've kept records, I think, in the 1860s—but, of course, they weren't. The cupboard was bare because they'd been selling cattle, in some instances for as low as 58c per kilogram, which, if the drought were to break today, they'd have to pay $2.80 or $2.85 per kilogram to replace.

Those were the circumstances that we were left with, but what did we do? We supported that sector. We supported that sector well during that time. The government gave out almost $2 billion as part of our drought program. We created the RIC, which was supported here in this place, even though the Labor Party resisted it for a long period of time. There's $2 billion in that fund for water projects across the country, for local authorities and state governments to be able to apply for support to put in water infrastructure in those areas, which will make our provincial people far more resilient. We set aside $5 billion for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the NAIF, to provide opportunities for developing the vast expanses of northern Australia and provide finance for infrastructure projects up and down the eastern and western seaboard, north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Five minutes doesn't allow me to cover everything. There was an earlier motion like this about 12 months ago. We were given speaking notes—82 pages of single-line achievements, both financial and policy adjustments, for this country.

This government's having a tough week. It's got a stone in its shoe, and it will resolve that.

Senator Gallacher interjecting—

I won't be lectured to by Senator Gallagher—through you, Mr Acting Deputy President—

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

or by the Greens. You've heard me say before: in the Greens, you go to bed as the leader and then you sit up in the morning, look down and your head is still on the pillow! At least we get out there and have a good old tussle-up as we try and sort out what we're going to do. But, can I say to you, I've been proud to serve in this parliament, and for 4½ years in this government—the Turnbull government, and, before that, the Abbott government—because of what we've delivered for provincial and regional Australia. It's massive. It's better. Those places are better. Those communities, those economies are better and stronger as a result of the efforts of this government. I've got to tell you: they want to lecture us on our inability to focus on issues that Australians care about—well, they need to go back and have a look at the report card.