Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria)— I move:
- That this house notes that —
(1) when the coalition took office, the unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent — 2.1 percentage points below today; and
(2) under Dr Denis Napthine, MP, Victoria’s unemployment rate has rocketed to 7 per cent, the highest it has been for 14 years, which means under the Napthine government more than 70 000 people have lost their job;
- and agrees that this record level of unemployment is a direct result of the Napthine government not having a jobs plan, not delivering any major projects in its term of office and cutting $1.2 billion from TAFE, forcing the closure of many campuses and reducing retraining opportunities for the unemployed.
It would come as no surprise that Labor has brought this motion before the house today during opposition business, because the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistics that were released last week provide a telling signal of where this economy is at. The figure of 7 per cent is a frightening reminder of the growing number of people who are joining unemployment queues.
In the Geelong region we now have an unemployment rate of 10.5 per cent, which has doubled since the Liberal Party came to office. In Warrnambool and the south-west it is up by 2.3 points to 9.5 per cent.
Headlines in the Warrnambool Standard have included ‘More out of work — unemployment rate soars to highest level in 10 years’ and ‘Jobless rate soars’. On Monday the Geelong Advertiser had the headline ’15-year high — Geelong unemployment worst in state — 1 in 10 jobless’ on its front page and on page 4 had ‘Our employment level soars’. Today the Geelong NEWS has the headline ‘Geelong jobless rate soars’.
This would be of no surprise because as recently as last week Peter Martin, the economics editor of the Age, was writing articles about the lack of confidence in the direction of this government that is now apparent within industry. There have been headlines such as ‘Victoria drifting under Napthine’ in the Ballarat Courier.
Yesterday in the Australian Financial Review Frank Costa, a well-known business identity from Geelong who was appointed by this government to the Premier’s business round table, was also expressing his grave concern about the direction of this government, its economic management and its inability to put its message across. He is very concerned about the ongoing and growing levels of unemployment in this state.
As I said, unemployment in Victoria has reached its highest level for more than a decade, yet the comments of the state Treasurer, Michael O’Brien, demonstrate an absolute incapacity to grasp the urgency of the situation. Earlier this year, when members on this side of the house warned of the coming catastrophe, the government was almost up-beat about the economy. Government members were confident with their strategy and, for want of a better description, were saying they were capable of managing the situation.
Despite our warnings that the state had not yet experienced the impact of the closures of Holden, Toyota, Ford and Alcoa, the government remained immune to all advice provided by this side of the chamber. Government members were oblivious to the realities that were there for everyone to see.
Back then we witnessed Victorian unemployment lurch higher to 6.2 per cent, despite assurances that the ship was under control, but the latest figures are a clear demonstration that the ship is not at all under control and that the Treasurer’s pronouncements about job creation, transitioning people into new jobs and retraining are just a smokescreen to deflect attention from this government’s inability to attract investment to this state and create jobs for the future. The ship is giving all the appearance of being the Titanic, and the Premier’s and Treasurer’s arguments about the health of our state amount to nothing more than all tip and no iceberg.
The latest ABS statistics, announced last week, signal a crisis point for this state, which now has an unemployment rate of 7 per cent. Under Premier Napthine, Victoria’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed to a 10-year high of 7 per cent. This has not gone unnoticed. As Peter Martin reported in the Age of 12 August:
- The last Premier to face an election with an unemployment rate of 7 per cent was turfed out of office. His name was Jeff Kennett. The year was 1999.
Yet the government still remains buoyant about the direction of this state. Treasurer O’Brien is confident it will all get better from here. He always says, ‘Just trust me’, but unfortunately I do not believe what he says, particularly when it comes to levels of unemployment and getting people off the employment queues and into jobs. He is starting to sound like a lemming.
Earlier this year, despite all the signals that Victoria’s manufacturing problems were set to intensify, Treasury remained sanguine about the overall jobs outlook. Back then it said the fundamentals for Victoria were solid and predicted an average of 6 per cent unemployment this financial year and 5.75 per cent next year. To quote Peter Martin again:
- The four figures released since have been 6.6, 6.8, 6.6 and now 7 per cent.
Martin goes on to predict that this trend will continue at least up until November. How can Treasury be so wrong? How remote is this coalition from the realities of life? It is not just missing the target; it is forgetting to actually fire the arrow. Our state is in crisis. As I said, the unemployment rate has not been this high for over a decade, and that was during a period of worldwide recession and when the state saw the collapse of Ansett Australia.
Recently the Age reported that statistics showed Victoria as having the largest increase in people out of work. It is the 10th month in a row that unemployment in Victoria has been above 6 per cent, and I stress that the gap between 6 per cent and 7 per cent is in fact a chasm.
Under the Napthine government more than 70 000 people have lost their jobs. I remind members that the figures for the number of workers affected by the closure of Ford, Holden and Toyota, as well as Alcoa, have not come onstream yet. It was too early to register the effects in terms of this survey and the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. Although the current figures are stark, they do not reflect the tsunami that is about to come, because we know it is not just the Ford, Holden, Toyota and Alcoa workers who will be affected. The companies that supply those large employers will also have a dreadful time of making ends meet and continuing to operate.
Later in my contribution to this debate I will talk about my concerns for the remaining parts of the automotive sector and what the industry is saying about this government.
Mr Ramsay interjected.
Ms TIERNEY— It is not just blue collar, Mr Ramsay. It is not just manufacturing. Mr Ramsay knows that it is his government that was directly responsible for sacking thousands of public sector workers and contributing to the unemployment levels by putting those people on dole queues. We have also seen huge numbers from the professional sector and the white-collar sector lose their jobs. In the finance sector alone thousands of jobs have gone. In call centres thousands of jobs have gone. But what has been the response from this government? Absolutely nothing. Zip.
On the Labor side, we have rolled up our sleeves and got work going. Not only have we come up with a jobs plan for the state, we have come up with a jobs plan for Geelong and a jobs plan for local people that is specifically tailored to the white-collar and the financial sectors. We outline what the problem is.
Mr Ramsay interjected.
Ms TIERNEY — That is part of your problem, Mr Ramsay. You will not even recognise that we have a serious issue before us. Until you recognise that we have a problem with jobs and economic growth in this state, you will not be interested in trying to find a solution.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! I would appreciate Ms Tierneydirecting her remarks through the Chair. I am sure that will also discourage Mr Ramsay from interjecting.
Ms TIERNEY— One can only hope. Labor is about recognising the problem, being able to solve the problem and then moving on and providing the solutions. Those are the very things that this current government finds impossible to do. This government is simply incapable of doing it. If it is not able to do those basic things, the Napthine government does not deserve to be in government in this state.
Come 29 November the people of this state will determine whether this government stays in power. While all these jobs have gone — and they will continue to go — this government has sat back and done nothing. It has allowed a massive exodus of industry from the state and has given no thought as to how to curb that exodus. The government has made no realistic policy announcements whatsoever.
Mr Ramsay interjected.
Ms TIERNEY— We will get to the employers in a minute, Mr Ramsay.
In addition, the Napthine government has had an ongoing and direct role in contributing to the employment queue with the slashing of public sector jobs over the last three and a half years.
I agree with Tim Pallas, the member for Tarneit in the Assembly, who said last week that the Napthine government had a lot to be proud of. He is reported as saying:
- Denis Napthine will forever be remembered as the Premier who did nothing while our major industries collapsed.
He also said:
- Labor has a plan for jobs and growth, and Denis Napthine has a plan to cut TAFE, cut skills and make it harder for young people to find work.
That is a very proud legacy for future generations.
Without wanting to labour the point, I will allude to some facts. For the sake of this debate I will put five simple facts on the table, and I look forward to those opposite addressing them in their contributions — when it is their time to make contributions as opposed to the barrage of interjections I have been subjected to this morning.
Fact one: Premier Denis Napthine has cut $1.2 billion from TAFE, forcing the closure of many campuses and reducing retraining opportunities for unemployed people. That is a fact.
Fact two: when the coalition took office the unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent — 2.1 percentage points lower than it is today. Fact three: nearly 15 000 full-time jobs were lost in Victoria last month. Fact four: Victoria’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national unemployment rate every month since July 2013. Fact five: Victoria has Australia’s second fastest rate of population growth, yet it has its second slowest rate of jobs growth. These are inescapable truths, and while I appreciate they may be uncomfortable facts for those opposite to deal with, deal with them we must.
The Treasurer, Michael O’Brien, is reported in the Age of 10 July as saying:
- … Victoria had been leading the nation on full-time employment growth, with the state also recording a relatively high proportion of working-age people in work or actively looking for a job.
However, the ABS’s analysis of real unemployment, which combines the official unemployment rate with discouraged jobseekers, the underemployed and those who want to start work within a month but cannot begin immediately, sets the unemployment rate at double the official figure, with 13 per cent of Australia’s workforce wanting a job or longer hours. This new measure includes underemployment and workers in part-time or casual positions who want a permanent job or longer hours. It also counts those discouraged jobseekers who want to work but have given up looking because they are ill or disabled, lack the necessary training or experience, cannot find a job locally or in their line of work or cannot speak English well or because employers consider them to be too old or too young.
Mr Ondarchie interjected.
Ms TIERNEY— I did not say that; it is what the ABS says.
That same report identified that in Victoria 14.2 per cent of the workforce is under-utilised. This is just one more example of the ship not performing and its captain having to take a nap in the life raft to prepare for the unavoidable.
Digressing for a moment, I had the good fortune to view an episode of Yes, Minister the other day, and I could not help but admire its ability to capture the nature of things in a simple sentence. On this occasion it was the potential for negativity in government:
- In government, many people have the power to stop things happening but almost nobody has the power to make things happen. This system has the engine of a lawnmower and the brakes of a Rolls Royce.
I pondered this for a while, and I was amazed at how apt this was in expressing — —
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! There is far too much interjection from members on my right. I would appreciate it if they restrained themselves.
Ms TIERNEY — I pondered that comment for a while, and I was amazed at how aptly it expressed how I feel about this government’s approach to the issue of employment. Labor has been saying for a long time now that this government is not committed to creating jobs. It is essentially fiddling while Rome burns. It is prepared to sit by and watch manufacturing, the mainstay of the Victorian economy, sink to the abyss and allow thousands of white-collar and professional workers to slip through the jobs net and into unemployment queues.
Put simply, this government has no plan.
The government has now been exposed by those in the industry who have had direct experience with it and determined it is not genuine about job creation. It is all about window-dressing. When it comes to jobs, important employer groups and industries are now saying publicly that they have lost confidence in the Napthine government, as demonstrated by the comments made by Mr Costa in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review. Not only that, but Michael Emerson, director of Economic and Market Development Advisors, told the Age:
- … business and consumer confidence had also been shaken by concerns about the future of … manufacturing and the federal budget …
- Earlier in the year the Age quoted the director of the Victorian branch of the Australian Industry Group, Tim Piper, as saying:
- … 2014 was shaping up as a tough year for manufacturers, with confidence having been shaken by Holden’s decision to cease production …
- I see it as a tough year, especially in Victoria with some of the recent announcements … We will need to be vigilant to maintain a level of confidence in the economy.
Time has marched on since Mr Piper’s comments, and guess what? The horse has bolted. The genie is out of the bottle.
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order!
Ms TIERNEY— Thank you, Acting President. The coalition’s industry policy is in tatters, and the government is in tatters. All the icing and pretence cannot hide the fact that Labor has a well-developed jobs plan that is out there in the electorate and is supported. I cannot believe that government members have been so lazy as not to have even read Labor’s jobs plan, which has been out and about for at least 18 months. Maybe that is another sign of the laziness demonstrated by those opposite.
Honourable members interjecting.
Ms TIERNEY — Those opposite can carry on and make comments about manufacturing and union backgrounds and all those sorts of things, but the reality is that industry is now coming to Labor members and letting us know how badly you — —
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! Mr Ondarchie and Mr Ramsay! I understand that Mr Ramsay is on the list of members who wish to speak on the motion. If Mr Ondarchie would like to put himself on that list as well, we will hear his contribution with enthusiasm. At the moment perhaps not so much enthusiasm on his part would be appreciated.
Ms TIERNEY— I was starting to talk about how industry and employer organisations are now publicly making statements about their lack of confidence in the Napthine government’s direction and effort in relation to industry policy. In fact key stakeholders in the business sector who are members of the automotive round table are scathing about what has occurred.
Mr Ondarchie interjected.
Ms TIERNEY— They walked into that arrangement believing that this government was genuine about the round table, but the round table has barely met. It has met only twice — maybe three times, but definitely twice. Members of the round table believed that this government was serious about dealing with the loss of 25 000 jobs from the Victorian economy over the next three years.
They participated in that round table in good faith, believing that the coalition government was genuine about making sure that those people who worked for the larger manufacturers and were going to lose their jobs would be able to segue reasonably easily into the components and aftermarket sectors.
Mr Ondarchie — Aftermarket! Finally you have recognised the aftermarket. Finally! It has taken four years. Finally!
Ms TIERNEY— Don’t tempt me, Mr Ondarchie.
Mr Ondarchie — You can count as part of the automotive sector — —
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order!
I asked Mr Ondarchie to restrain himself, and I have asked Ms Tierney to direct her comments through the Chair in the hope that Mr Ondarchie — and indeed Mr Ramsay earlier — might restrain themselves. Clearly Mr Ramsay has got the message, but at this point Mr Ondarchie is struggling. I ask Ms Tierneyto direct her comments through the Chair. I believe that would help maintain order in the house no end.
Ms TIERNEY— Thank you, Acting President. I also live in hope that that occurs in terms of the level and frequency of interjections.
As I understand it, the stakeholders who are members of the automotive round table also asked for a range of things to be provided to them so that the round table could function and so that its members could work together to plan and map out what potentially might occur as a result of the cessation of vehicle manufacturing in Victoria.
It is my understanding that that information has not been provided. I understand that not only have many requests been made but those requests have been ignored. People have attempted to contact the government about this matter, but no-one has picked up the phone and there has been no response to any messages that have been left.
Members of the round table are highly committed people, and the futures of a number of their businesses are at stake. It is an absolutely horrific situation. A structure was put in place so that an exercise could be undertaken to facilitate the employment of people as they leave one part of the sector and move into another. People in the industry wanted to do that because they knew that doing so made sense. In contrast, members of this government have been there for media releases and for media grabs and media spin, but as soon as the cameras stop rolling and the media leaves the room, people in industry and business and members of the government walk out two different doors.
Mr Ramsay — That’s rubbish.
Ms TIERNEY— When the cameras stop rolling, Mr Ramsay, it is like — —
Mr Ondarchie — On a point of order, Acting President, on two matters. Firstly, you directed Ms Tierneyto furnish her comments through the Chair. She has just made a point of talking directly to Mr Ramsay.
Secondly, in her contribution she has made ambit claims about people saying things, and she was reading from a document. I wonder if she would like to table that document from the industry that makes the matter clearer for us all.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! I uphold the first part of the point of order because I have asked Ms Tierneya couple of times to direct her comments through the Chair — directing her comments across the chamber is adding to the disorderly nature of the debate from time to time — but I do not have the power to order her to table any document that she may be referring to. However, she is free to make the document from which she is quoting available to the house. I will leave to her discretion whether she does so.
Ms TIERNEY — At this time I will not be providing that document to the house because I believe it is only proper that the author be consulted prior to my doing so.
Industry has been saying to us that it wants a plan. It says it wants a strategy and a vision for the future, but that the recent allocation of a mixed bag of investment grants has been made on a very ad hoc basis and that this has been our wasted opportunity to embark upon a planned and meaningful transition. Industry is saying to us that it believes this government has lost interest in having a properly planned approach to how we handle the cessation of car manufacturing in this state. It was bad enough that the government just sat by and allowed it to happen, but it does not want and cannot find the capacity to have a planned approach to ensure that the fallout from major car manufacturers’ decisions to cease production could mean that more people will be employed and more people will have food on the table for them and their families.
To those opposite, particularly the member who in the past in his contributions in this house referred to a particular sector of the automotive industry, I suggest he may need to pick up the phone because clearly — —
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! Mr Ondarchie and Mr Ramsay should restrain themselves.
Ms TIERNEY— The very sector he proclaimed himself to be the saviour of is one of the parts of the automotive round table that is very concerned. If you do not believe me, Mr Ondarchie, you should text, email or ring them now.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! I am not sure how many times Ms Tierney needs to be asked to direct her comments through the Chair in the interest of the orderly conduct of the house. I think this is the fourth or fifth time. I am being polite.
Ms TIERNEY— We have a Napthine government that is not proactive in relation to industry policy. It does not understand how to work as a government in its dealings with business at all. It does not understand that it has a role in facilitating the right economic settings so that we can secure investment and economic and jobs growth. The government has demonstrated even in just this one sector that it cannot work with industry and business. It does not believe that it is important to sit down and grow relationships and knit those relationships so they are meaningful and can then deliver real opportunities for Victorians.
The government is not genuine, and it now has a record of false promises. It seems that instead of rolling up its sleeves and doing the hard work to get jobs up and running in this state, this government is about media spin and window-dressing; it likes handshakes and smiles when the cameras are rolling, but as soon as the cameras leave the room there is no substance whatsoever. It makes promises to stakeholders and it does not fulfil those promises.
It continues to jilt relationships in the business sectors.
I look forward to the ongoing debate on this matter today and into the future because unemployment is not going away and Labor is not going away. Labor will continue to take this issue up to this government day in and day out because this is a core issue that affects the lives of thousands and thousands of Victorians. I put on the record that in terms of the debate we should stick to the facts. I want government members in the chamber today to respond to the five facts I have mentioned.
Honourable members interjecting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Finn) — Order! The level of interjection is a little over the top. I am not one to be against interjections, but members are getting a bit carried away at the moment. I ask members to control themselves.
Ms TIERNEY— I am calling on those opposite to not do what they always do on Wednesdays, which is instead of really dealing with matters of serious public importance, such as unemployment, to just default and make personal attacks on Labor members.
With these personal attacks they only serve to demonstrate how bereft the government is of ideas and practical ways of growing the economy and jobs and making sure that there is food on the plate and greater opportunities for all Victorians in this state. Government members should stop their laziness and stop pointing their fingers.