❓ Shadow Treasurer Ripper questions Treasurer Buswell on rising unemployment figures in WA, highlighting the state's unemployment rate exceeding that of NSW, Victoria, and SA. Buswell responds, citing personal reasons for his initial silence and outlining the government's infrastructure investment strategy to combat unemployment.
AnsweredQoN 786Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDER-EMPLOYMENT
I refer to the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force statistics released on 8 October, which highlighted a rise in the state’s unemployment rate of 0.4 per cent, to 5.8 per cent. That rate is now higher than the rate in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia for the first time since May 2004. (1) Why did the Treasurer decline to comment when asked for his response to these disappointing figures? (2) Does the Treasurer take responsibility for the government’s failure to address rising unemployment and under-employment? (3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL
I refer to the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force statistics released on 8 October, which highlighted a rise in the state’s unemployment rate of 0.4 per cent, to 5.8 per cent. That rate is now higher than the rate in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia for the first time since May 2004. (1) Why did the Treasurer decline to comment when asked for his response to these disappointing figures? (2) Does the Treasurer take responsibility for the government’s failure to address rising unemployment and under-employment? (3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(1) Why did the Treasurer decline to comment when asked for his response to these disappointing figures? (2) Does the Treasurer take responsibility for the government’s failure to address rising unemployment and under-employment? (3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(2) Does the Treasurer take responsibility for the government’s failure to address rising unemployment and under-employment? (3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(1) Why did the Treasurer decline to comment when asked for his response to these disappointing figures? (2) Does the Treasurer take responsibility for the government’s failure to address rising unemployment and under-employment? (3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(2) Does the Treasurer take responsibility for the government’s failure to address rising unemployment and under-employment? (3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(3) Is it not the case that 160 000 Western Australians are either without work or without enough work? (4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(4) What is the government’s strategy to reduce unemployment and to help unemployed workers? Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL replied: (1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
(1)-(4) Those figures were released last Thursday, as I recall. The Leader of the Opposition is right. I did not respond. Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Mr E.S. Ripper : You declined to comment, as you have on many occasions. The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
The SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition! Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Mr T.R. BUSWELL : Last Thursday, I was collecting my wife from hospital and taking her home after some surgery. So I do apologise for the fact that I was unavailable, but occasionally in this place other things take precedence. That is where I was last Thursday. In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
In terms of unemployment, the Leader of the Opposition is right. The unemployment rate in Western Australia rose in the last month. The fact is, as Professor Kenyon from Curtin University pointed out on the day, there are significant monthly variations in unemployment. Notwithstanding that, the facts are that there is every probability that unemployment will continue to rise in Western Australia in the short term. There is every probability that the number of unemployed people will continue to rise. That is why, in the budget we handed down this year and against considerable opposition from members on the other side of the house, who insisted that we were borrowing too much and were sending Western Australia into a level of debt from which we would never recover, we as a government invested in infrastructure in Western Australia to keep Western Australians in work. That has been one of the responses of this government—the largest single infrastructure investment program in the history of Western Australia. That is the sort of thing that we are doing to try to keep people in jobs. It is difficult, but we are committed to that program. What else are we doing? We are looking at and improving the approvals process. Heaven forbid! Projects in the mid-west, such as Gindalbie, can get off the ground and get up and running. Heaven forbid! The Gorgon project can move forward. They are the sorts of things that this government is doing. We are making decisions and investing money to protect Western Australian jobs. I contrast that with the former Labor government’s approach to protecting Western Australian jobs. I will remind the house one more time of what that was. It was going to form a committee and establish a task force to get together and caucus with the people of Western Australia. How ridiculous! We are doing stuff and we are protecting Western Australian jobs. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
The SPEAKER : Before I give the Leader of the Opposition a supplementary question, I formally call the member for Joondalup for the first time.
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