Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — Data  from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that jobs growth in Melbourne’s west  has ground  to a  virtual halt  during the first two years of the Baillieu government’s  term. The outer western suburbs of Melbourne have the fastest growing population throughout the nation, yet despite this the  Baillieu government has ensured that  those trying  to find  a job  in Victoria face an increasingly acute problem, particularly in Melbourne’s west.

The figures show  that in  the more than two years since the Baillieu government was  elected in November 2010, only  267 jobs  have been  created in  the entire outer western  Melbourne region.  That is an  average of  only 10  new jobs  per month. One can compare this record with the same period at the end of the Bracks and Brumby Labor governments, when  a total of 7168 new jobs were created, which is an average of 276 jobs per month.

That is more than 25 times  more jobs than the total  created under the Baillieu government. One can put it another way and say that the Baillieu  government has taken two years to oversee the jobs growth  that occurred  under Labor during an average month in its  last two  years of government, a period which included the unemployment  spike  from the global  financial crisis and followed  a decade of drought. Clearly this government needs to do more to take responsibility for the problems and develop a plan.

See Tim’s Speech in Hansard here.