Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I stand to speak on my view that the Rudd Labor government should be condemned for the loss of 150 Centrelink call centre jobs in Launceston, which was announced today. I am calling, on behalf of the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team, on the Rudd Labor government to reverse this decision. I am calling on the Tasmanian federal Labor senators in this place to stand up and state their position either in support of this decision or in support of the people of Launceston and the people of Tasmania who are going to have their jobs axed.

I highlight the point that the new federal Labor member for Bass, Jodie Campbell, has failed in her first major test. I also wish to speak to the issues of the Ouse and Rosebery hospitals and to the communities of the west coast of Tasmania and the central highlands districts who have been gutted by the withdrawal of the $1 million that was not only promised but paid to those communities to upgrade and support those local hospitals. I highlight also the concerns I have for the Launceston General Hospital in particular, about the promises made, commitments given and plans that are now being sketched and prepared as a result of those commitments to the Launceston General Hospital.

But firstly, to the cruel hoax that has been perpetrated on Launceston working families. I am personally disgusted that the Rudd Labor government today had Centrelink do its dirty work by confirming the job cuts, in a feeble attempt to protect the federal member for Bass. Before parliament had even started for the year, this Labor government was already politicising and manipulating government agencies. Centrelink has confirmed today that up until this week it was ‘in the middle of a recruitment process for those 150 jobs’. Those jobs were announced by the Prime Minister last year on 13 July, well and truly before the election was called. He said on that day:

I am pleased to announce that the Australian Government will expand its Centrelink staffing numbers in its Launceston call centre operation by an estimated 150 full time equivalent employees. ...

While selection for these positions will be subject to the usual Australian Public Service recruitment process and based on merit, given the skills and experience of the Telstra employees, I expect that a large number of these people will be successful in gaining positions in Centrelink.

The agreement to expand the Centrelink call centre network will importantly keep these skilled jobs in the region.

The former Prime Minister noted that:

This expansion comes on top of an announcement earlier this year to expand Centrelink’s Port Macquarie Call Centre ... and call centres in Hobart and Coffs Harbour by 125 employees in mid-2008.

Of course, we found out today that the 125 extra jobs for Glenorchy, in Hobart, are also being axed. I am very upset about this on behalf of the Tasmanian Liberal Senate team and on behalf of the local community where I live in Launceston. People have been very concerned for over a week. The concern is that the federal Labor member has done nothing. What has she done? She has failed in her first major test as the member for Bass by emerging empty-handed on Monday from a meeting with the Minister for Human Services, Senator Joe Ludwig, where she sought assurances about the jobs. The concerns were first brought to light over a week ago on 5 February, when I was tipped off about those concerns, and I expressed concern that the Howard government’s pledge of 150 more jobs at the Centrelink call centre in Launceston would fall victim to the Rudd Labor government’s budget razor gang. That is what I said in the media. It is on the public record. So you would think that the local federal member would make inquiries and that local federal Labor senators would also make inquiries and stand up for their communities and for those jobs. They have not done so and they have failed.

So tonight I ask federal Labor senators Nick Sherry, Carol Brown, Kerry O’Brien, who lives in Launceston, and Senator Helen Polley, who lives in Launceston: what is your position? Will they state their views as to whether they support these 150 jobs being cut in Launceston? In doing so, I highlight the fact that the Premier of Tasmania today has put out a statement headed ‘Disappointment at Centrelink call centre decision’, saying he has:

...  written to the Prime Minister voicing the State Government’s extreme disappointment at confirmation that the 150-seat Centrelink call centre proposed for Launceston will not go ahead.

              …              …              …

Now, less than three months on, the Rudd Government gives the people of Northern Tasmania every reason to feel their votes have been taken for granted.

It is extremely disappointing that the new government has chosen not to honour this important commitment; to renege on a promise to save 150 call centre jobs in Launceston.

This the Labor Premier of Tasmania. The statement continues:

Mr Lennon said the decision was especially harsh given that federal Labor gave every appearance of supporting the Centrelink jobs when announced by John Howard well before caretaker conventions were triggered.

He said the enviable reputation of the Launceston call centre and its workers, combined with a projected federal budget surplus of more than $14 billion in 2007-08, made the decision even harder to fathom.

       …             …             …

Sacrificing this investment in the name of cost-cutting is a bitter pill for the North.

Goodness me! What more do you need, federal Labor senators? What more do you need, federal Labor member for Bass, than to get that message from your premier? The deputy leader of the Liberals in Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, was onto this about a week ago, highlighting his concerns. I congratulate the Tasmanian state Liberals for standing up for their communities. Well done, Will Hodgman, Jeremy Rockliff, Peter Gutwein and Sue Napier, for standing up for your communities—unlike their state colleagues. I commend Michelle O’Byrne, the state member for Bass, for expressing—I will not say in a feeble way—in a moderate way her concerns about the fact that the federal Labor government should abide by this decision and not axe these jobs.

Ms Campbell has claimed that the Centrelink jobs were unfunded. This is wrong. Mr Tanner, in his media release of 6 February, pointed to the $5.1 million in savings. I have the document here. This is a federal Labor  government document. It says:

Reversal of measure—Centrelink—further call centre supplementation.

They have reversed the decision—the money was committed, the decision was made, the promise was given, commitments were made, interviews were had, and so on, but they have reversed the decision and are not now going ahead with that. I asked the federal member for Bass: when did you first learn of this decision? Was it in the meeting with Senator Joe Ludwig or was it before then? Why did she remain silent for six days after federal minister Lindsay Tanner announced, on 6 February this year, the government’s intention to axe the funding? I feel for the families of those Telstra call centre workers who banked on Jodie Campbell and banked on a job with Centrelink based on John Howard’s announcement eight months ago. I note that Jodie Campbell has made a statement today attacking me and also attacking the former member for Bass, Michael Ferguson, who fought so hard to get these jobs and was successful in his efforts. I congratulate him and thank him for standing up for Bass and for trying to make Bass strong again. The federal member, Jodie Campbell, has attacked me personally and Michael Ferguson in a statement today, saying that the promise was never specifically funded. That is clearly wrong.

In conclusion, I want to make it clear that I have spoken to a number of people in the community today who are very upset. I have spoken to Damon Thomas, from the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and I have got a call in to the local mayor, Albert Van Zetten. A lot of other local people are very upset and concerned about the 150 jobs that are going to be axed. What are the implications? I ask for this government to reverse that decision and to change its view. I empathise with the people of the west coast and thank the west coast mayor, Darryl Gerrity, for fighting so hard for his local community. I thank the Rosebery hospital action group for fighting so hard for their community and to upgrade their hospital. I also want to thank Mayor Deirdre Flint and the Ouse hospital action group for their efforts to save the $1 million that was promised and delivered to them last year by the Howard government that has now been taken back by the federal Labor government. I acknowledge their work. I say thank you to them on behalf of their local communities for standing up. With support, with effort and with their local communities, we can do that.

Finally, I say that there are concerns regarding the Launceston General Hospital. Money has been committed and decisions have been made. In fact, it is a huge amount of money that has been committed to the Launceston General Hospital—millions of dollars for a cardiac unit, $8 million for patient transport services along the north-west coast and further millions of dollars. It is a serious concern and I draw that to the attention of the Senate, the Labor government and those Labor senators in this place. I ask them to please reverse this decision for the sake of Tasmania.