Media Release – Senator Barnaby Joyce, 11 August 2011:
Jobs figures show that carbon tax is not the answer for Queensland
Employment data released today reveals that Queensland now has the highest unemployment rate in the country. This is the worst time for Queensland to be facing the prospect of a carbon tax, Senator Joyce said today.
“The unemployment rate in July increased in Queensland to 5.6%, from 5.2% in June, double the increase experienced nationally. Queensland now has a higher unemployment rate than any other State. In total, an additional 10,000 Queenslanders became unemployed over the past month.
“This is an appalling outcome when you think of the minerals boom that Queensland is meant to be experiencing. When small businesses tell you there is not much business around they are not joking.
“The prospect of a carbon tax is killing jobs in Queensland. If the Labor government moves forward with a carbon tax they have will have moved from being incompetent to culpable.
“Surely someone in the Labor party has a television set and can see what is going on in the world. Now is the not the time for a carbon tax that will raise costs for every small business but have zero effect on the temperature of the globe.
“This is a one vote Parliament. We are looking for just one Labor party member to stand up for Queensland and vote against the carbon tax. Let’s stop this charade and do what the vast majority want.
“Since the Howard government left office the unemployment rate in Queensland has increased by 50%, from 3.8% (in November 2007) to 5.6% today. There are over 50,000 extra Queenslanders unemployed since the Rudd-Gillard government came into power.
“Queensland was once the state of development. An earlier generation built dams, electrified the railway lines, developed the Gold Coast and opened multiple international airports. Thanks to Labor it is now the State with the lowest economic credentials, where bats seem to have more rights than people, where farmers have had their rural soul sold by State Labor governments, so that coal seam gas companies can run over their land while paying 75 cents for every $1000 they extract, where fishing has become an immoral past-time, where the economic future for aboriginal people has been taken away so they can live on a “wild river”, where the major industry of the north, the live cattle trade, can be shut down over night because apparently the nation is run by Four Corners, not the government.
“When green regulations become more important than creating jobs, the effects are there for all to see. Queensland has the highest unemployment in the country and public debt heading towards $85 billion.”
More information – Matthew Canavan 0458 709433
Barnaby Is Right 
“the minerals boom that Queensland is meant to be experiencing”
I’ve been saying for a while that this so called ‘mining boom’ is dubious.