Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

It is quite clear, following question time today, that we are seeing a government bereft of any evidence of economic achievements to speak of. The responses from Senator Brandis today illustrated the discomfort of this government when the microscope is held to them in terms of what they have actually achieved over the 12 months.

We have sought to focus on the measure of success which this Prime Minister imposed upon himself. Twelve months ago, prior to going into the party room to argue for the deposing of the former Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull said:

It is clear enough that the government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need … Ultimately, the Prime Minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs. He has not been capable of providing the economic confidence that business needs.

If we look at the objective facts that are before us now, we see that full-time employment is down by 64,000 since the beginning of this year. We see that we have the lowest wage growth in 20 years. That is a stark fact which is not to the credit of this government. We see debt and deficit ballooning. We see that our AAA credit rating, a very precious asset, is under threat at the moment. When we are talking about economic confidence and the future, we need to see how that translates. What is the evidence for that? I will talk a bit further about this. If there is business confidence, as Senator Brandis indicated, one would expect to see business investment rising. What we see is the very opposite—total investment has fallen by 10 per cent since September 2015.

I was particularly disappointed with some of the responses by Senator Brandis today when he referred to the fact that the opposition, in his words, was seeking to play 'trivial political games'. It is not trivial or political to seek to hold the government to account for what it has done over the past 12 months. That is precisely what opposition senators have sought to do during the course of today's question time. When it comes to having a responsible approach, the opposition cannot be accused of being irresponsible, because over the past 24 to 48 hours we have seen the culmination of work done by the shadow Treasurer's office and Senator Cormann's office in coming up with an agreed arrangement in respect of the omnibus bill which we will be looking at later. That outcome has seen a greater amount of budget repair than what was originally proposed by the government, is fairer for more vulnerable Australians and addresses the issue of jobs for the future with the preservation of funding for ARENA.

When it comes to business confidence, contrary to what Senator Brandis indicated in his responses, one looks at Roy Morgan Research. We find that in August business confidence fell by 7.5 points—6½ per cent—to 108.6. It is now at its lowest since Mr Turnbull became Prime Minister almost exactly a year ago. The CEO of Roy Morgan Research, Michele Levine, says that 'in early September the LNP became the first Australian government to lose votes on the floor of the House of Representatives in over 50 years'. This is having an impact on confidence. We see that various indices fell in August and now only 48.5 per cent of Australian businesses, which is down 5.8 percentage points, believe that the next 12 months will be a good time to invest in growing the business. That is the lowest this indicator has been for some years. In addition, only a bare majority of Australian businesses, 52.7 per cent, now expect good times for the Australian economy over the next five years. This is a new record low for this indicator.

There is one area where this government has performed at an A+ level in my view, and that is in defending the banks from a royal commission. There has been ducking and weaving on this, and it is greatly disappointing to me, as a former member of the inquiry that looked into the performance of the banks, that this government refuses to show leadership in this area. This is an area where the victims of banking malpractice need to be vindicated. (Time expired)

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

I am delighted to support the wonderful comments of the Attorney-General in responding to the questions from the opposition today. I was thinking to myself: is there a PFZ going on over the other side—a policy free zone? I hope it was not specifically Queensland, but it seemed to be mainly Queensland Senate colleagues. I can only reflect, as my good colleague, Senator Reynolds, would do, on what is happening in our own home state of Western Australia at the moment. Rio Tinto, in the month of June, shipped 42 million tonnes of iron ore out of Port Hedland. That is better than a million tonnes per day. We see mining exploration in Western Australia absolutely starting to lift again, not only domestically but also from an export point of view.

I have been in the United States and Europe during this year, and if anyone thinks things are bad around the world, they are the two Western countries where we see Britain has exited Europe, we see the EU in turmoil, we see Russia in turmoil and we see that most EU countries are probably in recession. We heard the Attorney-General responding to the questions with statistics like these: the economy growing 3.3 per cent. How many countries around the world would dream of that sort of activity? Of course, that is in contrast to less than two per cent during the Labor years. Let me remind the chamber that that was when there was a mining boom. That was when iron ore prices were $150 per tonne. That was when the price of oil was $150 to $160 per barrel. They are now down to $45 and less. This is what Australia is achieving. The other interesting thing for you all to reflect on is that this government, in the budget before us at the moment, wants to further reduce the company tax for small companies with up to $10 million of turnover. And who are the biggest employers in this country? Not government, not the big businesses: it is the engine room, the room that the other crowd over there know nothing about—small business.

Let me reflect on the Attorney-General's figures in the response that he gave to the Labor senators. In 2013, Labor's last year in government, there were 86,000 lousy new jobs, but in this year just finished, under the coalition government, there are 220,000 new jobs—almost three times as many. What the Attorney did not say, because of his modesty, was that the overwhelming proportion of those jobs have gone to women. So we now see an almost 60 per cent increase in the proportion of jobs for women.

Let me talk a little about that wages growth of 2.1 per cent that the Attorney-General mentioned in response to Senator Ketter's question. As the Attorney said—and I know this to be a fact; I have been in Texas and Louisiana recently—at least one member of every family in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, is out of work, and in many cases both of them are out of work because of the downturn in the economy. But we have wages growth that is higher than in the United States, higher than in Europe and higher—I think the Attorney-General said—than the OECD average. What an enviable reputation we have in this country, despite the black clouds over the world economy about which I speak so often in this place. And the opposition is to be complimented if indeed there is going to be agreement on the omnibus bill that will allow us to get this budget on the road to recovery.

But I remind those here in the chamber that it was in 2013, leading up to that election, that our opponents said that if they won the election they would bring in $5 billion of savings. We said, 'Yes; if you are in government, we will support them.' We won the 2013 election. We brought those savings into this place no fewer than three times. But what happened to the $5 billion of Labor savings on every one of those occasions? Three times they opposed their own savings. So I will not hear lectures from Senator Ketter; or from Senator Watt, who I have not met before; or indeed from Senator Gallagher, the new Manager of Opposition Business; or from Senator Cameron. I will not be lectured by them.

Let me finish on Senator Cameron in particular, who tried to criticise the Attorney-General about the cash rate being at 1½ per cent and it being low. Let me remind you all that when Labor came into government the cash rate was 7.6 per cent—and what happened? Fortunately, Mr Stevens, in trying to control Labor's profligate spending, had the capacity to get it down from 7½ to three per cent, when other countries around the world were already down at zero or one per cent. I congratulate the Attorney-General and our government on our achievements.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of and respond to the bizarre answers that we keep getting. It is interesting, isn't it? Twelve months—allegedly a celebration—but what a year the government has had! What a year!

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Achievement after achievement.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, if you could stand up and list those achievements, I would be very surprised. Once again, Senator Brandis gave extremely disappointing answers to all our questions today regarding the Turnbull government's achievements, probably because there are not many achievements for him to mention—although I will point out one later on in my contribution.

But he is not alone, of course, in being unable to explain any real achievements of this government. He is joining other senior Liberal figures like Peta Credlin and Jeff Kennett. Then we have the members of the media, people that are normally so supportive of the government, like Piers Akerman, who said:

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull may well be the most over-qualified underachiever ever to occupy the Lodge.

Well, that is a good sign of the good year that the government has had, isn't it!

We have seen, as I said, a year of failure from Mr Turnbull and his underachieving government. No wonder Mr Joyce is poised, ready to roll him. And didn't Senator Nash let the cat out of the bag today when she started talking about the Joyce-Turnbull government? Absolutely. So we will be watching that to see what happens.

This is a government in chaos. It is dysfunctional. It is not working. It is not able to work together. There are so many divisions within its party room and within its party that it is not funny. It has been not working for so long that in Tasmania it lost three out of five seats. It lost three seats! The 'three amigos' were categorically kicked out and told 'go away', and that is because this government has failed to achieve any successes—certainly from the Tasmanian people's point of view—in any way, shape or form.

There seems to be a continuous struggle within the Turnbull government, and that means that they are failing to address any of the needs of the people of Australia. It has been a year of huge disappointment. We have had the deficit and net debt both continue to balloon on this Prime Minister's watch. Mr Turnbull came to government, if you remember, claiming that he was going to deliver economic leadership. Well, that has not happened. But, also, his big claim was that he was going to lead and unite his party. Well, we are still waiting to see that happen. He has failed spectacularly.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We won the election. That is a good start.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Only just. He was going to lead us into the new era. He was going to have this huge mandate. But it has not happened. He has compounded the coalition's abysmal fiscal record, which has seen the deficit triple, net debt blow out by well over $100 billion and the AAA credit rating put at risk. When it comes to the budget, this government stumbles from one stuff-up to the next, to be quite frank.

The government's omnibus savings bill was a shambles even before Labor did the sums and found an embarrassing $107 million black hole and came up with fairer ways to save money. The government's superannuation policy has been shredded by its backbench, highlighting the disunity and dysfunction within its ranks. The Prime Minister lectures about the moral responsibility of budget repair, but at the same time he wants to gift a $50 billion tax cut to big business, when that money could go to schools and education and hospitals.

Mr Turnbull and his government have shown that they do not have any idea how to fix the budget in a fair way. Labor has led on this debate and will continue to provide the economic leadership the Prime Minister has proven so incapable of.

The Prime Minister keeps raising issues, but then he fails to follow through on them. He wears the suit, he talks the talk but he does not walk the walk. He is really unable to walk the walk. He is someone that is scared of his own shadow—or of the shadows that stalk him, just waiting to pull off another coup.

We had the Prime Minister's move to hike the GST, a move that he dumped at the first sign of trouble—although I am sure he would raise it again, should an opportunity arise and should he get any control of his party room, which we do not hold out much hope of him doing. But there is one thing that Mr Turnbull has achieved. His achievement is he has helped people forget how bad Mr Abbott was. (Time expired)

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise in very strong support of the Attorney-General and his responses to what I have to say were probably the worst questions I have heard from the Labor Party—and that is saying something—in their desperate attempt to find absolutely anything they can to try and criticise this government about. Again, we have just heard from Senator Bilyk half-truths and complete, bold-faced lies about the government's record.

Now, after the last six years in government, I am not surprised that those opposite really cannot recognise what success in government policy looks like, because it was a complete and utter failure of government policy and implementation. All they were good at was raising more money, spending the money that we had, and leaving a legacy of intergenerational debt.

So, if those opposite really have not got any idea what good policy and good policy achievement and implementation looks like—if you slept through the last three years in this chamber and all the legislation that has gone through, and the stuff that you have blocked—you can either google some of it or I will just give you some idea of what we on this side think good government policy looks like.

First of all, in the last 12 months alone, 220,000 new jobs were created in this country and around about 60 per cent of those were women. You might not like that fact but it is great for this country. On this side, new jobs are absolutely a success. Consumer confidence—

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

If you do not recognise success, let's have a look at others in the community and other indices that clearly do recognise success. For example, consumer confidence is eight per cent higher than in September last year. Exports rose 1.3 per cent, to be nearly 10 per cent higher over the last 12 months. In fact, exports are now the strongest in 16 years in this nation. That is good news and that is success. What else have we got? Household consumption is up 2.9 per cent, which is the same time as last year. Housing dwelling investments are up 8.3 per cent over the past year. Business conditions and business confidence is up seven points, which is well over the long-term average. Business confidence is back to the long-run average of plus-six points. And, as the Attorney rightly pointed out, our real GDP is 3.3 per cent higher than 12 months ago.

Growth is faster than every G7 country.

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

You might hate it and you might sit there and argue—as you did in some of your questions—about semantics, but it does not change that real GDP, which is something most other nations, and particularly most OECD nations, can only dream of at the moment. So, for me and for people on this side of politics, that is what success looks like. It looks like implementing policies that grow the economy and that actually create new jobs.

So what else has this government done that those opposite seem to be blind to over the last 12 months and in fact the last three years? We have created an innovation and science agenda to help create the jobs of the future, and clearly that is already working. That is absolutely—

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

Senator Bilyk, just come to Western Australia and see the new innovation and the new industries that we are creating. That means jobs, and more money for states like Tasmania, which seems to think that it needs much more share of the GST than we do—and when we generate the money. So come to Western Australia and see what the new Defence policy, the Defence white paper and the Defence industry program are delivering for Australia. Those on the opposite side built not a single ship in six years. You did not commission a single domestic-built ship. We are now completely rebuilding our fleet, and we are doing so many other things for Defence industry.

Again, Senator Bilyk, if you want to see what actual hard work looks like in innovation and industry, take it back to Tasmania, come to Western Australia and see what we are doing. That is great news.

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

We—unlike you, who put over 2,000 children into detention, under your border protection policies—have released every single one of them. Under you, 1,200-plus or more people died at sea. Under us, it has stopped, and not a single person is dying anymore at sea; 50,000 people flooded our borders illegally, not by boat—no more, Senator Bilyk.

We have also signed the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which is already showing great results in increasing trade, which means more money and more jobs for Australians all around the country. That is success. (Time expired)

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of my favourite TV shows of all time—and I suspect I am not alone—is the American show Seinfeld. And of course one of the most famous Seinfeld episodes is the story about nothing. Unfortunately, after 12 months it has become very clear that the Australian people have something very much in common with that episode of Seinfeld, because what we have now is a government that is about nothing.

It has been 12 months since Malcolm Turnbull took control of the coalition, ousted Tony Abbott, promised the world, and it has been 12 months of nada, nothing, zilch. This government has achieved—

Senator Bilyk interjecting—

I take the interjection. Lots of 'yabber, yabber, yabber' but no actual real action to do anything. This government has achieved so little that, just this week in parliament, coalition senators were left with no legislation to debate and nothing to say. We had this embarrassing series of coalition senators on their feet, jabbering on about rubbish, rather than actually having anything substantial to offer the Australian people.

This is not really a surprise, because, as I said, this government has had 12 months to do something—to do anything. It has done nothing, not one single achievement. Some may say that I am just launching a partisan attack as a Labor senator. But of course there are many Liberals who agree with that assessment of this government.

When Andrew Bolt asked Liberal and former Premier of Victoria Jeff Kennett to name just one achievement of the 12-month Turnbull Prime Ministership, Mr Kennett was stumped. Bolt went on to say: 'Can you name one? And I'm not asking it as a trick question. Can you name one?' Kennett replied, 'I want him desperately to succeed'. 'I know. But can you name one?' Bolt persisted. 'No, not at the moment,' Kennett said. And of course that view of this government has been backed in by other Liberals, including the former Prime Minister's chief of staff Peta Credlin.

Yesterday when I made my first speech to this parliament, I talked about the fact that probably my highest priority was working towards greater economic security, particularly for Queenslanders, and 12 months ago the Prime Minister offered a lot in this regard. He said:

In terms of talking about the economy, talking about business, a key element is confidence and you build confidence by explaining as I said earlier, explaining what the problem is, making sure people understand it and then setting out the options for dealing with it.

Let's explain, then, just what the problem is under this government. Let's talk about what is happening to workers in this country and in my home state.

Full-time job numbers have fallen under this government—the most recent statistics show that. Wages growth is the lowest on record. Senator Brandis very much enjoyed reeling off statistic after statistic in question time, which he claimed demonstrated how well this government is doing. The one that he missed out, the one that he omitted to mention, was wages growth—and it is no real surprise, because wages growth is at its lowest on record. That is what actually really matters to people, the money in their pockets, and this government has failed. It has not achieved anything in terms of wages growth. Under this government, unemployment continues to be at crisis levels in many parts of Queensland. The Prime Minister can explain this away all that he wants, but Australian workers know that all of these statistics mean less money in their pockets, less secure work and more unemployment.

What kind of confidence can workers have in this government to deliver jobs when this government has no plan for jobs, particularly in Queensland? One of Queensland's most important industries, in terms of both dollars brought in and employment, is tourism, yet this government has no plan for tourism after 12 months. It has nothing to say about the future of tourism. No plan for tourism means no plan for tourism in Queensland, and that means no plan for the Queensland economy: no plan to boost tourism on the Great Barrier Reef, no plan to boost tourism in Central Queensland and no plan for tourism in Queensland's south-east corner. Even in the Gold Coast, one of Australia's tourism capitals, is left out again, despite our having a tourism minister from the Gold Coast.

This government has no plan for Northern Australia. Tony Abbott established the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, but what has this government actually done? What have they delivered for Northern Australia? Not one cent has been spent from that fund, despite it having been up and running for some time now.

This government has no plan to tackle the big banks. There will be no royal commission into banks for Queensland farmers, despite lots of threats having been made before the election by various Queensland LNP members.

This is a government that has failed to turn up. This is a government that has failed to achieve anything in 12 months, and everything the Prime Minister believes in, everything he does try to achieve, is blocked by his extreme right-wing. This government has failed. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.