This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The employment minister, Eric Abetz, has rejected claims that his advisers urged his department to “massage” jobs figures to ensure Tony Abbott’s key election promise of creating one million jobs over five years was on track.



The government is due to release jobs figures this week, but a report published on Monday suggested the minister’s office had urged the department to revise the figures upwards by 160,000.

Original projections of 838,100 new jobs over the next five years did not satisfy the minister’s office and his adviser, Josh Manuatu, according to the report.

Abetz claimed the report in the Australian was incorrect and criticised the journalist. Abetz tabled a statement from his department to support his claims.

The minister said rather than his office pressuring the department, the department “offered up” the figures to the minister’s office.

“The department is not publishing employment projections ‘scaled up’ to reflect the government’s commitment to create one million jobs. The figures to be published this Friday are based on the employment growth projections from the 2013-14 MYEFO [mid-year economic and fiscal outlook].

“The department also offered the minister’s office figures showing the potential make-up of sectoral growth taking into account the government’s policies. However, these figures are not being published, nor did the minister’s office ever ask the department to publish them.”

Since Abbott’s election promise to create one million jobs over five years, news has followed that Holden and Toyota will leave Australia, Qantas has announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs and Alcoa will cut 980 jobs at its Point Henry smelter.

In Senate question time, Labor’s Kim Carr demanded that Abetz release the correspondence between his office and the department on the jobs figures, but the minister told the Senate that given Labor had made a freedom of information request for the correspondence, he would abide by that “timetable”.

Carr will move a motion on Tuesday to order Abetz to produce the documents between his office and the department relating to the job figures. Though the motion is likely to succeed with the Greens’ support, the government is unlikely to comply.

“When the Coalition’s policies are implemented, many thousands of Australians will be relieved from the social and economic consequences from being on the unemployment scrap heap,” Abetz said.

Labor’s employment spokesman, Brendan O‘Connor, demanded Abetz release all documents and emails relating to the interference by his office.

“After six months as prime minister, Mr Abbott should have created 100,000 jobs to be on target, instead only 33,700 have been created.

“The only fight over jobs the Abbott government is willing to have is a fight with the Department to manipulate jobs figures.”