Mr PALLAS (Tarneit) — Once again, we have to question what value the government sees in debating matters of public importance of this nature. Over the past four years the government has brought before this house about a dozen of these self-congratulatory matters of public importance.

One would have thought that when debating a matter of public importance the government would seek to discuss issues of importance, but no, the most important thing that concerns this government is to congratulate itself and say what an amazing job it is doing.

The government did not take long to warm to the task of thinking it was fantastic. On 23 March 2011 — less than four months into government — the coalition brought forward debate on a matter of public importance congratulating the then Baillieu government. It was probably one of the worst and most underperforming governments in the history of this state. It oversaw some of the most debilitating inertia this state has seen, but that in no way affected the grandiosity of the congratulations the Baillieu government sought. Of course it was the same government as the current one, just in a different guise. It thought it appropriate to pile praise upon itself.

Less than 100 days into government its members were congratulating themselves on their many policy initiatives.

Less than two months later they congratulated themselves on their many achievements for the people of Victoria. This state went from being the jobs engine room of the nation to a basket case. Every now and then we had the satisfaction in knowing that we could beat Tasmania, and Tasmania only, in terms of employment. That is a legacy of this government, as is its insufferable level of arrogance. From the first moment coalition members walked into this place there was bloviating buffoonery and a carry-on about their outstanding achievements.

The government warmed to the task. In June 2011 it raised a matter of public importance for the third time. Not one substantive issue was debated in this place.

Instead government members congratulated themselves on delivering on their commitments. Of course commitment after commitment has been broken by this government. I am not sure what commitments those opposite were lauding, but it appears that the government is more concerned about the desirability of saying how awesome it is rather than discussing the real-life impact its policies are having upon the lives of Victorians.

This government has caused a jobs crisis. It has taken Victoria away from being the jobs engine of the nation, which it was under the previous government. Job creation was a policy legacy of the Labor government: jobs, jobs and jobs. Who could forget the words of the former Treasurer, the member for Scoresby, before he fell from grace and even had achieved the responsibility to govern. He walked into boardroom after boardroom, and in 2010 he gave a speech at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event where he said everything that a future Liberal government would do would be about jobs.

Then he delivered his first budget speech and did not mention them once. Why would Victorians have any doubt that our employment rate has now become a laughing stock of this nation? Our unemployment rate is 6.7 per cent. That is the highest on the mainland. This is the 12th consecutive month that the state unemployment rate has been above 6 per cent — and it has been above the national average since June 2013. In December 2010 it was 4.9 per cent. Victoria lost 1800 jobs last month alone.

Our total employment growth — total! — since December 2010 has been 89 300 jobs. You hear government minister after government minister wander into this place and congratulate themselves on creating the massive figure of 89 300 jobs. In the same period of time the previous government, a Labor government, dealing with a global financial crisis, delivered 252 000 jobs.

Ms Wooldridge interjected.

Mr PALLAS — I see that the minister at the table wants to congratulate the former federal government.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Ryall) — Order! The member knows he should not take up interjections.

Mr PALLAS — And I presume I will be protected by the Chair! As we know, the investment in building jobs is a critically important thing.

Of the 89 300 jobs this government prides itself on creating, how many are full-time jobs? The very sad and debilitating reality is that 12 500 of those 89 300 jobs are full time. We created 90 per cent of all full-time jobs in the nation in 2010. Look how far Victoria has fallen under this government. Since December 2010 the number of unemployed people in the state of Victoria has increased to 62 000. At the same time our participation rate — that is, people who are looking for work — has fallen by 1.1 percentage points, from 65.8 per cent to 64.7 per cent. Now unemployment is growing 13.4 times faster than employment is growing, and that is a clear indication of this government’s priorities. It congratulates itself, but it turns its back on the people who need a government that is concerned about the welfare and wellbeing of Victorians and about opportunities for the future of this state.

There is a jobs crisis in this state.

This government created it, and it will not be fixed by its taking the same approach that got us into this situation in the first place. What do we see from this government? There is its disaster of a so-called jobs plan. The government is not taking it seriously. The jobs plan is simply an exercise in public relations and spin. It is a reality problem, not a public relations problem. That is where this government has it wrong. It makes an announcement and says, ‘We’re not going to tell you how much new money there is in this project’. In fact there is less than 1 per cent of real, new money attached to the government’s so-called jobs plan. There is a question: why did the plan, including a whole digital economy glossy within, not appear on the internet for four days?

The Age got it right. This government is not entitled to treat Victorians like idiots. Peter Martin said on Twitter:

         … the Premier is so deluded he thinks 100 000 new jobs is a good thing.

The jobs target, wherever it is from — not the jobs plan itself — is only 40 000 per year. That is not very good, but it is still an improvement on the government’s record so far.

We must never forget that this government had already set itself a jobs growth target in 2011. The Minister for Police and Emergency Services, when he was the Treasurer, stood in this chamber and promised a target of 50 000 to 55 000 jobs per year. The government has been an abysmal failure, and its failings have cost Victorians dearly. Instead of getting on with the business of governing the state, we have seen the government make one attempt after another to congratulate itself while it has failed Victorians.

Labor has a plan.

It will introduce a back-to-work bill in the first sitting of the new Parliament. There will be $100 million worth of payroll tax relief to get unemployed youth, the long-term unemployed and retrenched workers back to work. There will be 100 000 new full-time employees within the first two years. That is a target. That is a plan. That is a demonstration of a policy framework where you have a commitment to actually making a real difference.

This government has simply sat back. It has come up with the idea of an east-west link — what could otherwise be described as the Kim Kardashian of road projects. It is famous for being famous. It is infrastructure for being infrastructure. It has all the accountability of Kim Jong-il. That is the sort of government that is taking Victorians for idiots. There is the Melbourne rail link — the napkin rail link, as we on this side of the house like to call it. Year after year millions of dollars of engineering expertise were put into that process, and this government simply recast it in an image of itself.

This is a failed and feckless government. It is a government that has deserted Victorians and prefers to congratulate itself.