Mr HARTSUYKER (1:13 PM) —I am pleased to have the opportunity today to speak in the House on the member for Throsby's private member's motion on the working poor and to reaffirm the fact that this government is committed to the highest possible living standards for all Australians. It is interesting to note that, in the election campaign prior to 9 October, it was the Labor Party that advocated a tax policy which made low-income families worse off. I stand here astonished that this motion would be put forward against a backdrop of a party that puts forward a tax policy that disadvantages low-income families. This motion also very much illustrates how out of touch the Labor Party is—how much they are a party of a bygone era.

The member for Throsby shows a limited ability to comprehend the fact that the way forward to improving living standards is through flexibility, not rigidity. The way forward to improving living standards is through a more flexible labour market and not a more rigid labour market—the product of the award system. The good member fails to see that wage rises which are not related to productivity improvements can bring unemployment and despair. They are not the panacea for the needs of low-income families. They are not the way to assist the working poor. The way to assist our lowest paid workers is through providing opportunity and through providing training.

This government is focused on trade training and providing the opportunities to help people get into work and improve themselves. Forcing up the wages of the low paid without the increase in productivity that should accompany that only encourages the substitution of labour with capital, and that cannot be good for low-income earners. Look at the economic performance of this country. Previous speakers have mentioned this fact, and I will just reiterate it: we have 5.3 per cent unemployment, which is amongst the lowest unemployment in a quarter of a century. Over the last 12 months we have created over 243,000 jobs, 71 per cent of which were full time. Teenage unemployment figures are improving. This government believes that keeping the economy strong is one the best ways of improving the opportunities for our lower paid workers.

Labor caused one million people to be unemployed in the early nineties. The unemployment rate peaked at 10.9 per cent under the stewardship of the member for Brand and 10.3 per cent under the member for Hotham. Teenage unemployment peaked at 34.5 per cent. The Labor Party basically had a strategy of shifting people from one queue to another—from the unemployment queue to the DSP. That was a way of reducing the unemployment rate. Labor created another form of the unemployed to lower the headline unemployment rate. In contrast, this government has created 1.4 million jobs, 700,000 of which are full time. This government has presided over an increase in real wages of some 13 per cent, as compared to some 2.4 per cent under Labor. This government has seen the minimum wage increase by some $106 since 1997, as opposed to $41 in the last two terms of Labor.

In Australia, we have the second highest minimum wage, as a percentage of full-time median earnings, of the major OECD countries—France has the highest. The government is committed to improving the wellbeing of Australians through a flexible labour market. The government supports Australian workplace agreements; Labor are against workplace agreements. It is a fact that the average wage under a workplace agreement is about $1,000, as opposed to $741 under the centralised award system. Workers on AWAs earn some 23 per cent more than those on collective agreements, and women on AWAs earn 32 per cent more. You can see that the best way to improve the wellbeing of Australians is through a flexible labour market. The Labor Party is opposed to casual labour.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. I.R. Causley)—Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is therefore adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.