Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — In  regard to the Treasurer’s portfolio I refer to part 1  of  report  on  the 2012-13  budget estimates.  On page  127 of  the  report, paragraph  14.6.3 outlines key matters that were raised  at the budget estimates hearing,  including  those regarding employment. It indicates that discussion of jobs  growth can be found  at  pages 15 and  16  of  the hearing transcript  and discussion  of  public sector job losses can be found  on  pages 22 to 24 of the hearing transcript. The budget update says that employment growth in 2011-12 was up  0.8 per  cent up  from  the  projected  0.0 per  cent. Australian  Bureau of Statistics figures  show that  growth from June 2011 to  June 2012  was 0.3  per cent.

In Public Accounts  and Estimates Committee  (PAEC) hearings the  Treasurer  was unable to answer whether Victoria would reach the projected 0.0 per cent growth.

We have heard from the Treasurer, both in  PAEC hearings  and yesterday  in this Parliament, the  government’s consistent mantra  that  we must  live  within our means. But of course governments must do  much more  than that; they must assist struggling Victorian families to deal with the challenges of an economy  that is underperforming, particularly when it comes to employment growth, which is in no small part due to the failures of this government. The government is  delusional when  it looks at things such as the number of those holding  construction jobs. This number of full-time jobs has  fallen by nearly 5000 in  the last two years. In  the last two years  of the Labor government almost  three times as many jobs were created in total.

The Treasurer has boasted that there were 3900 jobs created under his government in the last two years, but in the last two years of the Labor government 21  600 jobs were created. The average growth rate in construction  jobs  since 2000 has been 7.9 per cent, and 3900 jobs amount to a mere 1.6 per cent increase.

In the last two years  of Labor  government the rate of construction jobs growth was  22.8 per cent. We are seeing figures right across the economy demonstrating that jobs  are  becoming  harder  to find. The most recent ANZ job advertisement research  found that the  number of Victorian  job  advertisements continues  to fall. The research recorded a drop of 9.2 per cent for January, or 45.5 per cent for  the year  to February  — the  worst  in  the  country. These  are shocking figures,  and  they  are further evidence that   no  action  or  plan  is  being undertaken  by the Baillieu  government. The consequence  is that the  Victorian economy is hurting, as are Victorian families. It  seems  that the government is far too concerned with dealing with its own internal shenanigans,  whether it be the Deputy Premier or the member for Frankston, rather than working hard for the people of Victoria. Month after month we are seeing the Baillieu government fail to invest in jobs, infrastructure, manufacturing and skills — and the Victorian economy continues to go backwards.

If  members look at the Treasurer’s promise — his target of creating  more than 50 000 jobs — they  will see it is nothing but a pipedream.  The government has made it to 16 000 jobs over that period of time,  which is a profound failure in terms of  its  target  — it is  about  32  per cent of  the  so-called  target. Victoria’s unemployment rate is now at 6.1 per cent, which is up from the figure of 5.6 per cent for the previous month. Of the latest  figures released the most distressing shows that 30 000 Victorian jobs were  lost in  the last month. That equates to close to 1000 fewer Victorians in work every day in January. Over the same period New South Wales saw some 250 jobs created every day.

Victoria is coming to  a standstill with thousands of construction jobs lost and thousands more at risk as  big infrastructure projects continue to wind up. They are the long tail of capital  investment and plans from the previous government, and we see no replacement strategy from this government.

The most distressing figure is, of course,  Victoria’s youth unemployment  rate, which  is  now at a  staggering  20.9  per cent compared  to  the  17.8 per cent nationwide. It  is higher than  in  every other Australian  state and territory, except for Tasmania. Victoria needs a government that gets people working.

See Tim’s speech in Hansard here.