JULIA GILLARD: This morning the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced the Labour Force Figures for December. What these figures show is that the unemployment rate in December reached 4.5 per cent, having increased from 4.4 per cent in November.
What these figures are telling us is that the Australian economy is not immune from the global financial crisis. What these figures are telling us is that the global financial crisis has resulted in job losses in this country.
When we look around the world we see that the unemployment rate in the US is 7.2 per cent and in the United Kingdom, it's six per cent.
Today's figures tell us the unemployment rate in this country is four and a half per cent.
For the individuals involved, obviously, the loss of a job hits them hard and it's a distressing and difficult time. I understand that, the Government understands that. And that's why we've moved to act decisively to keep our economy moving and to protect Australian jobs.
In the last three months, the Government has invested $36 billion, in a targeted and focussed way, to invest in Australian jobs and to protect Australian jobs.
Those investments include our more than $10 billion Economic Security Strategy which is an investment to support around 75 000 Australian jobs.
Our investments include our more than $6 billion car plan, our $300 million investment into local government, our more than $4 billion investment into infrastructure. And our investments also include a more than $15 billion package of reforms through the Council of Australian Governments, which is estimated to support around 133 000 jobs.
The Government has always said the Australian economy wouldn't be immune from the global financial crisis, and of course, the global financial crisis is going to have continuing impacts. We're going to feel further impacts from the global financial crisis in the period ahead.
The Government's also been upfront with the Australian people, that we did expect to see unemployment rise but that we would be doing everything we could to protect Australian jobs. We've acted with the $36 billion investment to date, and of course, we stand ready to act further, should the international circumstances deteriorate further.
I'm happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: Some employer groups say the best thing you can do to protect jobs to delay or water down your industrial relations changes. Is that something you would consider?
JULIA GILLARD: Well let's remind ourselves that the people who said Work Choices was good for employment were the people who supported Work Choices. There's no piece of government modelling, no piece of government paper that verifies that Work Choices was good for employment. The people who said Work Choices was good for employment were the Howard Government ministers who believed in Work Choices. They're the same people who told us Work Choices was good for working Australians at the same time data was flooding in telling us about the rip-offs and the way working Australians had been hurt by Work Choices.
Now I expect those who want to see the continuation of Work Choices to use any argument they can to support trying to keep Work Choices as the laws of this country. The Government is committed to a balanced approach, to a fair set of new workplace relations laws. That's why we've brought our Fair Work Bill to the Parliament and our Fair Work Bill is a Bill focussed on enterprise bargaining which the experts tell us is good for productivity.
Today's productivity growth is tomorrow's future prosperity. So we believe our Fair Work bill is good for working people, good for employers and good for this nation's future, including the future of its economy.
JOURNALIST: But on the eve of such a downturn, is it really sensible to hand more power over - introducing legislation at some stage that hands more power to the unions, drives up wages and costs jobs?
JULIA GILLARD: Well I disagree with every premise of your question because these laws and a fair and balanced package. These laws are about putting the industrial relations pendulum in the dead centre. These laws are about making sure that working Australians get a fair go at work, whilst at the same time, driving productivity and driving flexibility in Australian workplaces. These laws are balanced. They're there to be good for employers, good for employees, good for productivity and consequently good for the future prosperity of this country.
JOURNALIST: They were conceived in an economic boom though, and now we're in a far different environment. Do you not concede that there is a need to re-tailor them to them to current climate?
JULIA GILLARD: Labor in opposition deliberately designed these laws so that they could be the workplace relations laws of this country in good times and in difficult times. We designed a workplace relations system that was ready to meet the challenges this nation could face in the future; a workplace relations system that would be fair to employees, flexible and productive no matter what was going on in the economy. Consequently, our Fair Work Bill is there to set the workplace relations laws for this country for the long term.
JOURNALIST: Some of the estimates were that the unemployment rate would about be five per cent at this stage. So is the 4.5 per cent figure actually a better result than was expected?
JULIA GILLARD: We are obviously seeing from economists and many others in our newspapers and on our media various estimates of what's going to happen in our economy in the future, including various estimates of where employment and unemployment will be.
What the Government has said through its official forecasts is we expect unemployment to reach five per cent by the middle of this year, and five and three quarter per cent by the middle of 2010. Now, this is a difficult period. In the context of a difficult period, we did expect to see an increase in unemployment. We've seen a slight rise from November to December. We do expect to see - as we predicted in our official figures - unemployment move to around five per cent in the middle of the year. This is the global financial crisis showing in our economy.
JOURNALIST: Are you most concerned about the loss of full-time jobs, which are down around 45 000, I think, from the previous month Is that the main concern for the Government - the big loss in full-time jobs?
JULIA GILLARD: We're concerned about the loss of any job, whether it be full-time or part-time. But you are right, these figures show a loss of full-time jobs and that is concerning. What I would say in these figures is that in all aspects, they show the global financial crisis and its impact on our economy. We've said that economy won't be immune from this contagion that is moving through the economies of the world.
But we've also said we believe our economy is more resilient as we face these challenges and the Government has acted decisively to invest in the protection of Australian jobs in recent months.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) What about the slight increase in part-time employment?
JULIA GILLARD: These figures, as you are rightly saying, show a loss of full-time jobs and an increase in part-time employment. That would be the circumstances of individual decisions in workplaces. Obviously these figures catch the December period in which part-time work may be available in the circumstances of the Christmas period. We'll need to track that through figures in the coming few months.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about the loss of jobs in your home state of Victoria? I think the unemployment rate went from 4.4 to 4.6, which is worse than the national trend. Is that something that concerns you?
JULIA GILLARD: I think as we look through these figures, because they are telling us about the global financial crisis and its impact on our nation, obviously those states, particularly manufacturing states, you would expect to see some impact in the figures as a result of the manufacturing base.
JOURNALIST: Julia, miners seem to be concerned about the loss of mining jobs, leading to some regional centres shutting down. They've called on the Federal Government to meet with the resources sector. Is that an offer you will take the resources sector up on?
JULIA GILLARD: The Government meets very regularly with the resource sector and representatives of the resources sector. I do, in my capacity as Minister for Employment, Minister for Education, Minister for Workplace Relations. We talk to the resources sector about all of those issues. Of course, my colleague, the Minister for Resources, Martin Ferguson is in very regular dialogue with the resources sector.
We're obviously always open to listening to what the resources sector has got to say.
JOURNALIST: What do these figures mean in terms of a recession?
JULIA GILLARD: Well the Government's been clear that these are difficult days. We've also been clear that our estimates, the figures to date have shown that our economy has continued to grow even in difficult circumstances. That was the figure in the September quarter.
What the Government has done is act decisively to keep our economy moving, to stimulate growth in our economy in these difficult days. What we've done is protected jobs, acted to protect jobs in these difficult days. We are obviously standing ready as necessary to continue to invest in keeping our economy moving, in stimulating growth in our economy and in protecting Australian jobs. We stand ready to do that, obviously monitoring the international situation and whether it deteriorates further.
JOURNALIST: You've put forward a lot of money for the car industry and yet today we've had news of further job losses out at Ford. Is what you are doing working?
JULIA GILLARD: Well the car industry package is about the future of the car industry in this country for the long term. Obviously there have been some announcements in the car industry that have been heartening announcements including in relation to employment in Geelong; including announcements in South Australia in relation to new vehicle manufacture there, so making sure that there is continued production there. So I would say that those announcements show that the car package has been important. The car package is going to continue to be a package over time, to develop the car industry in this country and to keep it for the long term.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
JULIA GILLARD: Well obviously the move by Ford finance is a concerning development. We are obviously concerned about the loss of any job. But on the car industry overall, obviously the car industry package - focussed as it is on the manufacture of cars in this country - I think, has already led to some announcements that have been good news for the car industry for this country and as the Prime Minister says, for the long term, we want to be a country that manufactures goods, manufactures cars and the car package is about ensuring a long term future for the car industry in this nation.
JOURNALIST: Is the current economic climate and the fact that you are expecting unemployment to rise give further push to a case to extend the First Home Buyers Grant beyond the period after it currently runs out?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, the data from yesterday shows that the First Home Buyers Grant has made a difference. We saw a 17.8 per cent increase in the number of first home buyers. So that is obviously good news for the housing industry and it's good news for those first home buyers who are on their way to getting their place in the Australian dream and their very first home. The increases we made to the First Home Buyers Grant are scheduled to end on the 30th of June this year. Obviously the Government will continue to monitor the housing industry but that initiative is scheduled to end on the 30th of June.
JOURNALIST: So you won't extend it?
JULIA GILLARD: Well the Government will continue to monitor developments in the housing industry but that policy is scheduled to end on the 30th of June.
JOURNALIST: What do you say to employers who say that the Fair Work Bill will drive up wages and is a threat to jobs?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, what I would say is that the Government believes it has the balance right. And if we look in recent days we've seen commentary from the union side that the bill doesn't go far enough; we've seen commentary from some employers and employer groups that they think aspects of it go too far.
What we believe that shows is that Government got the balance right. What the Government's Fair Work bill does is get the industrial relations pendulum in the centre. It is balancing the interests of employers and employees in the centre. We always expected when we brought the Fair Work bill into Parliament that there would be union people with criticisms, that there would be employers with criticisms.
We are seeing that in the public domain. But the balance, in our view, is right. It's a good piece of legislation for employees and employers and for the future of this country.
And can we remind ourselves what was Work Choices about? Well, Work Choices was about allowing the safety net to be ripped away from working Australians. And we know, in particular young workers and other workers at risk, bore the brunt of Work Choices .
And I'd certainly say this, I've never had an employer say to me that they thought the future prosperity of this country depended on ripping off 15-, 16-, 17- year old kids. So the Government is about fairness at work, about a safety net at work that every working person can rely on. That's what we campaigned on at the last election; that's what the Australian people voted for and it's what the Fair Work Bill delivers.
JOURNALIST: But the employers are saying is that it needs to be calibrated to the times - right now the times are pretty tough - but you don't seem to be willing to amend or change it or delay it in any way. Is that correct?
JULIA GILLARD: We wrote the fair Work Bill for the long term. We wrote the Fair Work Bill to be the long term way in which this country approached workplace relations. If we reflect back over the period of the Liberal Government, there were many changes to workplace relations laws, each of them causing confusion, causing costs, causing concern. And then we had Work Choices, which Australians rightly rejected as extreme. When we wrote the Fair Work Bill, we wrote it to create a stable platform for workplace relations for the long term so that industrial relations laws didn't need to be re-written frequently; that there would be a stable, understood system for the long term. We wrote those laws therefore so that they would work in all sorts of different economic climates.
JOURNALIST: Ms Gillard, just with Fiji, can you give us an update on the plight of Australians stranded there?
JULIA GILLARD: The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is assisting Australians who are caught up in Fiji, particularly assisting people to get on flights. There has been an increase in the number of flights into Fiji, meaning that for those people who have been able to get to the airport, there have been more opportunities to get on flights to move out of Fiji.
There are numbers, telephone numbers that people can contact for assistance, if they themselves need assistance or if they're worried about the circumstances of a family member or friends. The Australian number is 02 6261 3305.
There's also a number in Suva that people can contact which is available on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website and we can certainly circulate it for people.
JOURNALIST: Just on the Fair Work Bill, why won't you do any economic modelling on the effect on employment from the changes that it provides?
JULIA GILLARD: When we put the Fair Work Bill together and when we put the policy that it's based on, Forward with Fairness, together, we obviously looked at the economic commentary and we particularly looked at those economic studies that talk about collective bargaining and its positive impacts for productivity. What we want to see in Australian workplaces is productive workplaces where there are gains for both employers and employees to share.
What we can say about Work Choices is that its period of operation coincided with a period of very low productivity growth. What we also say about the workplace relations in this country is that the advent of enterprise bargaining in this country under the last Labor Government coincided with a period of high productivity growth. Academics and economists would tell us collective bargaining is good for productivity and that's at the heart of the Fair Work Bill.
JOURNALIST: There's no specific modelling for the Bill - is that correct?
JULIA GILLARD: The employment and economic outlooks of the Bill are the employment and economic outlooks that we brought to bear designing the Forward with Fairness policy and operation and the Fair Work Bill in Government.
JOURNALIST: A US judge has said that some Guantanamo detainees were tortured. Will that cause the Government to reconsider its decision not to take some of those former inmates?
JULIA GILLARD: What the Government said about Guantanamo Bay remains our position. That is, if there was a future request by the US to consider any of these detainees, that would be considered on a case by case basis against our very stringent national security and immigration assessments.
Last question.
JOURNALIST: Anzac Day this year falls on a Saturday. Currently only the ACT and WA Governments are going to give the Monday straight after as a public holiday. Would you like to see the other states and territories follow suit?
JULIA GILLARD: That's a matter for the states and territories involved. Obviously the gazetting of public holidays is dealt with on that basis.
JOURNALIST: But it's un-Australian, would you not say, that, you know, we can't properly observe probably our most, you know, traditionally observed public holiday, have, you know, a proper weekday?
JULIA GILLARD: Well I'd have to say the important thing in my view about Anzac Day is the remembrances that occur on Anzac Day itself.
Thank you