❓ Dr. Nahan asks about WA's unemployment levels and the government's job creation efforts. Premier Barnett responds with statistics showing low unemployment and significant job growth in WA compared to the rest of Australia, while also addressing youth unemployment.
AnsweredQoN 211Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
UNEMPLOYMENT — WESTERN AUSTRALIAN FIGURES
211. Dr M.D. NAHAN to the Premier:
Can the Premier please provide the house with a picture of
the level of unemployment in Western Australia, and what the Liberal–National
government is doing to increase jobs in Western Australia?
211. Dr M.D. NAHAN to the Premier:
Can the Premier please provide the house with a picture of
the level of unemployment in Western Australia, and what the Liberal–National
government is doing to increase jobs in Western Australia?
AnswerView source ↗
Mr Speaker, just a clarification in response to the previous
question: the point about the feed-in tariff was raised at a meeting of all
chiefs of staff. I was wrong; that was my misunderstanding.
Mr B.S. Wyatt : On
the twenty-seventh?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
It was all chiefs of staff. If that is the date, I do not know; I was not
there. I do not go to chiefs of staff meetings.
Mr J.N. Hyde : You
still got it wrong!
The SPEAKER :
Member for Perth!
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Big deal. Who met who, who said what? I mean, move on. There is a real issue,
but you go into these little conspiracy theories.
Several members interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
While the Labor Party, with its union mates and all the scandal in Canberra,
continues to self-indulge itself, this side of the house gets on with good
government. We get on and do the job.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Thank
you, members!
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Good government is about advancing this state—economically, socially
and environmentally.
Mr F.M. Logan : In
a financially responsible way?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
From you? Give us a break! We could not even find you at the last election. You
were sent to Sydney!
The member asked a question in respect of the employment
figures that came out last week for the month of April. There was a somewhat
surprising drop in the national unemployment rate; I suspect that may be an
aberration, because we are seeing hundreds of jobs being lost on a weekly basis
on the east coast. Talking to my colleagues, other Premiers, they are very
fearful for employment in their states. In Western Australia the unemployment
rate also fell; it fell quite significantly to 3.8 per cent—essentially,
full employment. What is also interesting about this is to look at the numbers
of jobs. Over the past 12 months in Western Australia, employment grew by 48 700.
Across the whole of the remainder of Australia, over the same period,
employment grew by 10 200. WA has nearly 50 000 more jobs, while the number for
all of the rest of Australia is 10 000. Over the last year, Western Australia
has accounted for more than 70 per cent of all job creation in Australia, and
that is a reflection of the strength of this economy and the success, if I may
say so, of this government.
Mr
T.G. Stephens : It's the legacy of the last Labor government!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members!
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
You were wonderful; have another look at yourself in the mirror, with the light
switched on!
Mr Speaker, I come back to the issue that members opposite
have been raising. Members opposite have, quite rightly and properly —
Several members interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
This is almost futile. Members opposite have raised, quite consistently and to
their credit, the issue of youth unemployment and high rates of youth
unemployment in particular areas—Rockingham, the Kwinana strip and the
like—and I have listened to that. Believe it or not, I do listen to
members opposite sometimes!
Mr M.P. Murray : What are you going to do about it?
Mr C.J. BARNETT : What a good question! I was very pleased
that the Australian Bureau of Statistics' April figures reported that
youth unemployment had fallen from 16.2 per cent in March to 11.8 per cent in
April. If that figure is sustained, it will show that young people are finding
jobs and opportunities in a growing state. That youth unemployment rate of 11.8
per cent compares with the Australian figure of 22.5 per cent; in other words,
one in four is out of work. Let us look at the unemployment rate in some other
states: Victoria 26 per cent, and South Australia 29 per cent. There is
volatility in those figures, but the trend is there and it is a good trend of
not only high job growth but also falling youth unemployment. I hope that is
sustained so that young people have the opportunities of this growing state.
Question without Notice 209 —
Tabling of Paper
Mr M. McGOWAN : In the question before last I asked a
question of the Premier. The Premier read from a document and I asked if he
would table that document, and I ask that he table that document now. He also
corrected his answer, which I assume was based upon reading from another
document, and I ask him to table that document as well.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : I am happy to table the document. The
document is the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition and my answer.
Mr P. Papalia : That is not the one you were reading from!
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Yes, it is. If the Leader of the Opposition
wants the other document—neither of the documents is an official
document, they are just notes—it makes the point that the so-called
secret meeting had all chiefs of staff present. If the Leader of the Opposition
finds that fascinating, he is welcome to have it.
[See paper 4812.]
question: the point about the feed-in tariff was raised at a meeting of all
chiefs of staff. I was wrong; that was my misunderstanding.
Mr B.S. Wyatt : On
the twenty-seventh?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
It was all chiefs of staff. If that is the date, I do not know; I was not
there. I do not go to chiefs of staff meetings.
Mr J.N. Hyde : You
still got it wrong!
The SPEAKER :
Member for Perth!
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Big deal. Who met who, who said what? I mean, move on. There is a real issue,
but you go into these little conspiracy theories.
Several members interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
While the Labor Party, with its union mates and all the scandal in Canberra,
continues to self-indulge itself, this side of the house gets on with good
government. We get on and do the job.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Thank
you, members!
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
Good government is about advancing this state—economically, socially
and environmentally.
Mr F.M. Logan : In
a financially responsible way?
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
From you? Give us a break! We could not even find you at the last election. You
were sent to Sydney!
The member asked a question in respect of the employment
figures that came out last week for the month of April. There was a somewhat
surprising drop in the national unemployment rate; I suspect that may be an
aberration, because we are seeing hundreds of jobs being lost on a weekly basis
on the east coast. Talking to my colleagues, other Premiers, they are very
fearful for employment in their states. In Western Australia the unemployment
rate also fell; it fell quite significantly to 3.8 per cent—essentially,
full employment. What is also interesting about this is to look at the numbers
of jobs. Over the past 12 months in Western Australia, employment grew by 48 700.
Across the whole of the remainder of Australia, over the same period,
employment grew by 10 200. WA has nearly 50 000 more jobs, while the number for
all of the rest of Australia is 10 000. Over the last year, Western Australia
has accounted for more than 70 per cent of all job creation in Australia, and
that is a reflection of the strength of this economy and the success, if I may
say so, of this government.
Mr
T.G. Stephens : It's the legacy of the last Labor government!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Members!
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
You were wonderful; have another look at yourself in the mirror, with the light
switched on!
Mr Speaker, I come back to the issue that members opposite
have been raising. Members opposite have, quite rightly and properly —
Several members interjected.
Mr C.J. BARNETT :
This is almost futile. Members opposite have raised, quite consistently and to
their credit, the issue of youth unemployment and high rates of youth
unemployment in particular areas—Rockingham, the Kwinana strip and the
like—and I have listened to that. Believe it or not, I do listen to
members opposite sometimes!
Mr M.P. Murray : What are you going to do about it?
Mr C.J. BARNETT : What a good question! I was very pleased
that the Australian Bureau of Statistics' April figures reported that
youth unemployment had fallen from 16.2 per cent in March to 11.8 per cent in
April. If that figure is sustained, it will show that young people are finding
jobs and opportunities in a growing state. That youth unemployment rate of 11.8
per cent compares with the Australian figure of 22.5 per cent; in other words,
one in four is out of work. Let us look at the unemployment rate in some other
states: Victoria 26 per cent, and South Australia 29 per cent. There is
volatility in those figures, but the trend is there and it is a good trend of
not only high job growth but also falling youth unemployment. I hope that is
sustained so that young people have the opportunities of this growing state.
Question without Notice 209 —
Tabling of Paper
Mr M. McGOWAN : In the question before last I asked a
question of the Premier. The Premier read from a document and I asked if he
would table that document, and I ask that he table that document now. He also
corrected his answer, which I assume was based upon reading from another
document, and I ask him to table that document as well.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : I am happy to table the document. The
document is the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition and my answer.
Mr P. Papalia : That is not the one you were reading from!
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Yes, it is. If the Leader of the Opposition
wants the other document—neither of the documents is an official
document, they are just notes—it makes the point that the so-called
secret meeting had all chiefs of staff present. If the Leader of the Opposition
finds that fascinating, he is welcome to have it.
[See paper 4812.]
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