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Thursday, 1 March 2012
Page: 2557

Mr BUCHHOLZ (Wright) (09:36): I rise to inform the nation about the state of the economy and about some of the mistruths that have been delivered by the government. When it comes to the state of the economy and employment, often we hear the rhetoric of jobs, jobs, jobs. I want to put some meat on that. Wayne Swan promised in his budget that it was all about jobs. I quote Wayne Swan from press conference at the budget lock-up on 10 May 2011:

Well it's jobs, jobs and jobs. It's a bigger and better-trained workforce

In fact, it is half a million new jobs. It went on to say:

We will see the creation of an additional 500,000 jobs in the next couple of years.

That is what he said again on Channel 10's Meet the Pressin May 2011. Later, in an interview with Fran Kelly earlier this year, Wayne Swan admitted that it was yet another broken promise. I can give you the extract from Fran Kelly's comments. She said:

In terms of the positives though, the Government positively forecast half a million new jobs over the next few years to be created. Given the zero jobs growth last year, are you still confident that that figure holds …

Wayne Swan's comment:

Well, certainly we will do less than that …

So, on the one hand, they are saying that there will be enormous numbers of jobs and, on the other hand, the jobs are not delivered. In 2011, as a nation we had zero growth rate in jobs. So when the government stand up and say, 'We've created all these jobs,' the Australian people need to take into consideration that juxtaposed with that is the same number of people who lost their jobs. Because that is what zero growth rate means: when one comes on, one falls off.

The spin doctors who write the lines delivered by Labor know that these statistics they flaunt for the Australian public are mistruths. They know that, but these statistics are delivered blindly. You need only consider the papers. When the government talks about jobs and growth and how well they are doing, it must be a difficult position for people when they open the front page of the Australian or the Financial Review and they see jobs going offshore. They see announcements from the ANZ saying that jobs will be lost and they see announcements from Heinz in my area that jobs will be lost. Since the beginning of January 2012, over 5,000 job losses have been announced, many at some of Australia's biggest employers, such as ANZ, Macquarie Bank and Heinz.

But do not just take my word for it when it comes to truth. Let us go back a little further when we are looking at the credibility of Mr Swan. On August 12, on the 7.30 Report, the Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, was asked about the issue of the carbon tax. His response was, 'We've made our position very clear. We have ruled it out. Again, on 15 August on Meet the Press, on Channel 10, the journalist asked Wayne Swan, 'Can you tell us exactly when Labor will put a price on carbon?' Wayne Swan's response was, 'Well, certainly we reject this hysterical allegation that somehow we are moving towards a carbon tax; we reject that.' (Time expired)