Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Methinks they protest their innocence too much! Those people come not to take jobs but in fact to create jobs. According to a MaxiTRANS spokesman, in relation to the people who have been stood down, due to whatever circumstances the company has decided, it has cut 35 to 37 unskilled or semiskilled jobs. But none of the people reduced from the company’s casual workforce were qualified welders. At the end of it, that proves the point even further. This company has taken it upon itself to train people first—that is the government’s priority. The training of Australians first has always been this government’s priority.

This is a bit rich coming from the mob opposite. In 1993, when he was the minister in charge of training, the Leader of the Opposition presided over the single biggest drop in apprenticeship numbers in Australia’s history—30,000 people in the dumpster. This government has more than repaired that circumstance, and the energy of companies like MaxiTRANS should not be criticised in this place under privilege by the member opposite.

See this speech in context