Question to the Treasurer, Joe Hockey MP - Employment
Mr HAWKE (Mitchell) (14:37): I have a real question about jobs and opportunities.
The SPEAKER: The member will come to his question.
Mr HAWKE: My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer advise the House how the free trade agreement with China—
Opposition members interjecting—
Mr HAWKE: You might want to listen to this. Will the Treasurer advise the House how the free trade agreement with China, one of our most important partners, will lead to more jobs and opportunities for Australians?
Mr HOCKEY (North Sydney—The Treasurer) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for Mitchell for a question about jobs, because that is exactly what the coalition is about—how we can create more jobs for everyday Australians. We are doing it. Last month alone 38,000 new jobs were created in Australia. On average—
Dr Chalmers interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Rankin is warned.
Mr HOCKEY: under the Labor Party in the last 12 months they were in government 3,600 jobs a month were created. So last month alone Australia created more than 10 times the number of jobs that were created under Labor.
Mr Nikolic interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Bass is warned.
Dr Chalmers: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. To be relevant, the Treasurer has to refer to the 800,000 unemployed, the first time since 1994—
The SPEAKER: Member for Rankin, that is not a point of order. You have been warned. That is disorderly conduct.
Ms Ryan interjecting—
The SPEAKER: The member for Lalor is warned. The Treasurer has the call.
Mr HOCKEY: Mr Speaker, forgive him. He worked for the worst Treasurer in Australian history. He was the man who oversaw 200,000 jobs go under Swanny. He was the brains behind the—
Ms Butler: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
The SPEAKER: This cannot be on relevance, so what is the point of order?
Ms Butler: The Treasurer is wrong. The member for Rankin never worked for Joe Hockey, the current Treasurer.
The SPEAKER: That is an abuse. The member for Griffith will leave under standing order 94(a) immediately.
The member for Griffith then left the chamber.
Mr HOCKEY: I know she occupies Kevin Rudd's seat. He was a great fan of the member for Lilley, obviously. We know that. In fact, the shadow Treasurer is also a great fan of the member for Lilley. I have just received his book called The Money Men. When he refers to the member for Lilley, he says: 'Swan remains on Labor's backbench, mainly contributing to the national debate through tweets related to Joe Hockey.'
Mr Giles: Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
The SPEAKER: This cannot be a point of order on relevance. That one point of order has already been taken. You are on thin ice.
Mr Giles: It is in the standing orders. You have already ruled on relevance, but standing order 91(c)—
The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. The Treasurer has the call.
Mr HOCKEY: We are defending the free trade agreement with China because that represents more jobs for Australia. The Labor Party is running a covert and, at times, overt campaign against more Australian jobs. Those jobs would flow to businesses such as Flavourtech in the Riverina, where they will see the tariffs on their manufactured food drop from two per cent to zero. Fletcher International Exports, a meat exporter, will see 1,200 new jobs created as part of our free trade agreement with China. Rode microphones will see the tariffs on their products reduced from 10 per cent to zero. They employ more than 200 people in the member for Reid's electorate.
The Labor Party are opposing the free trade agreement with China because they are at the beck and call of their union masters, the CFMEU. Now it is time on both the Adani Carmichael project and the China free trade agreement for the Labor Party to choose between their union mates and the workers— (Time expired)