Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Conroy. I refer the minister to my question to him on 27 February relating to the Prime Minister's next visit to my home state of Western Australia. Now that the Prime Minister has made it as far west as Western Sydney in an attempt to salvage her Prime Ministership, can the minister advise the Senate when we can expect Ms Gillard to venture even further west to save Labor in Western Australia?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Senator for his question. The government's plans for the future will help drive jobs and opportunity in Western Australia. Since Labor came to office in 2007, 186,300 jobs have been created in Western Australia: 1.3 million more Western Australians are in work than ever before.

Western Australian households with a $300,000 mortgage are now paying $5,000 a year less in repayments under Labor than they were when the Liberals last held office. Almost 120,000 families receive the schoolkids bonus, worth $123.6 million. Thanks to the Gillard government's tax cuts, 779,000 Western Australians are paying less tax, 58,000 Western Australians are paying no tax and 628,000 got a tax cut of more than $300. More than 358,000 Western Australians are getting a boost to their retirement savings through a low-income superannuation contribution, and those 358,000 Western Australians know that if an Abbott government is elected that $300 will be taken back from them in a tax hike imposed by those opposite. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a supplementary question, Mr President. Given that the people of Western Australia resoundingly rejected Labor, the carbon tax and the mining tax at last Saturday's election, will the minister assure the Australian community that federal Labor will now listen to their state Labor colleagues and the wider electorate and remove those toxic taxes?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two hundred and seventy-four thousand small businesses in Western Australia are benefitting from the Gillard government's instant tax write-off. There is $3.6 billion as part of a six-year nation building program to upgrade and modernise the state's road, rail and public transport infrastructure. In fact, we have almost doubled annual infrastructure spending, from $154 to $261 per Western Australian. I am also pleased to indicate that the next community cabinet in Western Australia is on 27 March and the Prime Minister and many of her cabinet colleagues will be in Western Australia. (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. When the Prime Minister does next visit Western Australia on 27 March, will Ms Gillard and her ministers explain to Western Australians why the government has introduced policies that are destroying jobs in Australia's economic powerhouses, including the other states and territories around Australia?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I have already stated, the Gillard government will be able to say to the people of Western Australia that, since 2007, 186,300 jobs have been created. We are in the process of the major roads project, where funding will cut travel time and improve safety for more than 450,000 motorists and truck drivers a day, and, over the longer term, deliver back to the Western Australian economy social and environmental benefits worth $5.7 billion. When Ms Gillard and her cabinet go to Western Australia they will have a proud record of achievement, a proud record of creating jobs, a proud record of cutting taxes and a proud record of building the infrastructure that the state needs—unlike those opposite who have nothing but negativity about all of these projects and who voted against the small business offsets. (Time expired)