Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Traditionally Sunday in Australia is a day of rest—a day for going to church, mowing the lawn, tending the garden and spending time with your kids. But this Sunday will be known as sell-out Sunday—sell-out Sunday will be the day when the government of this country sells out the people it represents. There will be no greater example of sell-out Sunday, and no greater level of sadness, than in the town of Kandos. At one o'clock today Cement Australia announced that the Kandos cement plant will close. They produce 450,000 tonnes of cement a year. They have been there for 98 years. They will be not be able to compete with cement companies from Asia. They will now have to import cement from Asia because the Kandos cement plant has become uncompetitive. There are other factors that have led to this, but the carbon tax is the straw that will break the camel's back.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

If the parliamentary secretary at the table is so confident it is not the carbon tax, he is welcome to accompany me to Kandos tomorrow. At 11 o'clock tomorrow, he can stand outside the Kandos cement plant with me and explain to the workers that it is not his tax that is closing the plant. (Time expired)

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