Mr  Pallas (Tarneit) — It concerns me that this matter should be  before this chamber because nothing could be more inappropriate than a government seeking to congratulate itself at a time when  the state of Victoria is  facing a crisis in jobs — a crisis  that could  ultimately go very much to business confidence and affect the wellbeing of Victorians.

This  is  a bizarre  attempt  by this  government  to  effectively gaslight  the Victorian public. ‘Gaslighting’ is a psychological  term. It means  an  increasing frequency  to  systematically withhold factual information from and/or  providing  false  information  to  the victim, having the gradual effect of making them anxious, confused and less able to  trust their  own memory  and perception of events. That  is exactly  what is happening  to the Victorian people. This government is saying that what you  are experiencing in your life is not in fact the case; in fact your perception is so far removed from reality that you must accept the government’s representation of that reality.  That is  nonsense, and ultimately it is Orwellian. You see it  in the language that has been  displayed  in this resolution; we have the Orwellian language of ‘transitioning to the –new economy–‘. That is the language in this matter of public importance.

If you need to  look at  what this government’s grand plan for manufacturing is, you  do not need to go further  than  the paper produced in 2011 by  the  former Minister for Manufacturing, who had the bad judgement to go overseas and did not come  back  a  minister.  He  had  this  to  say  in  the  introduction  of  his manufacturing policy for the state of Victoria:

  The Victorian  coalition government was elected on a platform  of revitalising  Victorian manufacturing …

How is that going for the government at the moment? I am sure there are a lot of people who lose sleep at night worrying about the fact that they have lost their jobs  only to hear that they are ‘transitioning to the new economy. How thrilled they must be to be part  of the  wonderful transition  that this  government has inflicted  upon  them! This is  a  government  of  poor  deeds  and  even  worse presentation.

On that level we could not beat the Prime Minister of this country. If you think transitioning to the new economy was bad, how  would you feel if you  were being ‘liberated’ from your employment? What a wonderful thing it would be!

It took  a Liberal  government to  come to power to liberate  people from  their employment. This is puerile stuff.  More worryingly,  it is  a sign of what this government’s priorities  really are. Individual pain  and the pain that is being inflicted on the community are  lesser considerations than one inexorable truth. That truth is that people’s pain must be subordinate to economic performance and the government’s belief  about how the economy  should operate. When Holden made its announcement, the Premier apparently indicated to the media that job  losses would just be  absorbed into the Victorian  economy, as if this is  some sort of organic process that  will look  after itself:  the kind  hand of  the market at work.  This will not be pretty because those opposite have  no capacity  to deal with the reality of what is occurring in our labour market. As the Premier said:

  I have got great  faith in the diverse  nature of our economy and  the diverse  job opportunities created.

Day after day, factory closure  after factory closure, this  economy is becoming less  and  less diverse, and this  is  in no small  part  due to the delusional, self-congratulatory approach of this government.

Let us look at the  big picture. What is really happening in terms of employment in this state? Unemployment is 6.4 per cent, which is higher than all the  other states,  apart  from  South Australia  and  Tasmania, this month  and  above the national average. The automotive  industry is shutting  down. On this  Premier’s watch and the Prime Minister’s watch, we have seen an entire industry lost: 2500 jobs  lost at Toyota and tens of thousands  in the  components sector,  and they will not just disappear in 2017.

Mark my words: these jobs and the business case  they  represent,  including the former workers’ access  to  financing, will be  immediately  impacted on by  the manufacturers’ decisions.  Jobs  will leave  this  state and this  country,  and wealth will disappear with it. We know Alcoa has just announced a shutdown. That is happening in August,  but jobs will be  lost  now. At the Shell  refinery the only expression of  interest  that is currently on the table is about importing, not about refining, and we know that means hundreds of jobs will go.

The reason  that  manufacturing  jobs  are  so  important is  that  they  secure full-time  employment:  83.5  per  cent  of  Victorian  manufacturing  jobs  are full-time,  compared  with  about 55 per cent of jobs in the  general  Victorian economy. During the November  quarter 17 388  full-time manufacturing jobs  were lost Victoria. Of  those, 12 800 jobs were lost outright and 4579 of them became part  time. Since  this government came to power, 38 000  jobs in  the Victorian manufacturing industry have been lost.

Of  these,  96.88  per  cent  were  full-time  jobs.  One  out  of  every  eight manufacturing workers in this state has lost their job. But what does that mean? ‘You didn’t lose your job. You’re just transitioning to the new economy, and you should be proud to  be part  of this  wonderful new  ideological pursuit that we have effectively conscripted you, your family  and your communities to’.  What a disgrace!

Compared to 2010 there  are now 48 000 more  unemployed people and 38 000  fewer jobs  in  Victorian manufacturing.  There  are now fewer  jobs  in the Victorian manufacturing industry  than  there were  when  records began. Yet  the  members opposite say this is good. They come into this place, pat themselves on the back and say, ‘What an outstanding job we’re doing’.

This is ridiculous. It  is an insult to  the  families losing their jobs  and an insult to  the Victorian community. People  expect to find intelligence  in this Parliament. This is an  outrage,  but  those  opposite have the temerity to come into this place and pat themselves on the back.

Victorians will not forget this. Let us remember  what  has  happened under this government. There  are  now more people  working in manufacturing  in  New South Wales than  there are in Victoria. Let us look at  what has happened in terms of jobs  in this state. We now  know  that  the  number of jobs in  this  state  is effectively falling away.  For example, this government likes to pride itself on its job creation record. In fact 69 900 jobs have been created in  the Victorian economy over the three years and however many months it  is that this government has tortured us with its administration. Only 1500  of those jobs are full time. We know why that is, because we have seen what has happened to manufacturing.

Average job creation under this government is one-third of  average job creation under the previous government over its last term. Members opposite  get  up here and  say,  ‘We’ve  been one-third as good as the previous government. Aren’t  we great? Isn’t our performance outstanding?’.

The great sadness is  unemployment. In  the 11  years of  the Bracks  and Brumby governments unemployment actually dropped by nearly 10 000 positions. Under this government in three-and-a-half short years it has increased by more than 55 000. What an outrageous record, and what temerity this government  has  to  come into this  place and say, ‘This is  just part of the normal process’. The Premier has made statements  about it being a sad  day for Alcoa and a  sad day for Ford. He met with  the Prime  Minister today  and has  come away  empty handed.  This  is another sad day for Victoria. He is  the Eeyore  of Victorian  politics. ‘It’s a sad  day, and I really feel for you,  but  feel proud about this: you’re part of the transition to the new economy. What does that mean?

It means you are collateral damage in our ideological pursuit’.