Mr CADMAN —My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Minister, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force figures show unemployment trending down and that a record number of people are in employment. Well done. Can you inform the House as to how this has been achieved? Are you aware of any alternative proposals aimed at dealing with unemployment?

Mr REITH (Workplace Relations and Small Business) —I thank the member for Mitchell for his question. It is true that the official Australian Bureau of Statistics figures have come out since we last met and I am pleased to be able to advise the House that we now have a record 8,878,800 people in employment in Australia. The seasonal unemployment rate is 7.1 and trend unemployment has also been continuing its downward trend. That is the equal best figure, Prime Minister, since the middle of 1990. That is an excellent result and it does speak volumes of the government's reform program. There is no doubt that, when Australia is better managed, more people get a job. Furthermore, you get a higher wage as well as a result of this government's policies.

It is worth remembering that, when the Leader of the Opposition was at one stage the minister for employment, unemployment reached 11.2 per cent—a testimony to Labor's mismanagement when they were in power. The fact is that we had an appalling unemployment situation when Labor were in office. That was because Labor were never prepared to grapple with the difficult issues to bring about real reform that would actually have given Australia a better performance. That reminds me of those good words from the former Minister for Health Dr Neal Blewett, who said of the member for Brand that he was `flawed by a streak of the most un-Churchillian timidity'.

The fact is that Labor still do not have an employment policy. They promised a policy back in July. Oh, no, they could not produce it then. Then they said they would produce a policy in September. Oh, no, by the time we got to September East Timor was the problem. Then when we said, `Where is your policy?' they said, `Oh, no, we haven't got a policy because we've got the referendum and we cannot have more than one ball in the air at a time.'

Apparently there was to be a document prepared by some academics at Monash entitled `Workforce 2010'. It is ready but, oh, no, they cannot release it now. By the time it is released it ought to be renamed `2011' or `2012'.

Mr Beazley —Wit!

Mr REITH —These are the longest policy documents in the making that we have ever seen in Australian politics. It will be nearly 12 months before we finally see this workplace policy on employment or this employment policy discussion paper.

There is no surprise in this. The Leader of the Opposition has been opposition leader for nearly four years, or will have been certainly by the time we ever see this document. When it comes to actual policy, he struggles to have what it takes to develop a policy that is worth releasing. That is his basic problem. He has got the member for Melbourne with his views about policy, he has got Senator George Campbell who is out there attacking the member for Werriwa's policy and he has got a new member coming in. What is his background? What do you expect? He is another trade union official. He can answer that one in his maiden speech. This is the problem with the Labor Party. As the member for Werriwa said—

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker—

Mr REITH —This is my coup de grace, let me finish it surely.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. We are aware this bloke has been around Brisbane hospitals in pyjamas and with bunches of flowers, but there has to be a bit of relevance to questions, even from his own side.

Mr SPEAKER —A point of order has been raised by the Leader of the Opposition. I have to say that the Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, in commenting about employment generally, could hardly be called out of order when he was commenting about the employment of the member for Holt.

Mr REITH —The serious point to be made is that an opposition does have a public responsibility to issue policies. I finish with the words of the member for Werriwa on 20 October, 12 months ago, who said—

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. Loath as I am to interrupt the Banana in Pyjamas, there is a question of relevance here. This has absolutely nothing to do with the government's employment policies.

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition puts the chair in an impossible position. The Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business was, after all, about to quote. I do not know what he was about to quote. I would trust it was relevant to the question asked, but I cannot rule until he has uttered the quote he indicated he was going to quote.

Mr REITH —Just picking up on the last part of the question, it was: was I aware of any alternative proposals? This is what the member for Werriwa said on 20 October:

In April 1996 Kim Beazley said to me that Australian Labor was falling 10 years behind comparable parties in our policy development and our ideas. Now, that was the case then. We've probably got as much ground to make up now.

That was 12 months ago. We want to see your employment policy.