Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. The government brought to this parliament legislation for carbon pricing at the right price in order to drive a transformation in our economy to a clean energy future. At that time, we understood the circumstances of industries that trade with the world and trade at a world price, which is why we have created a multi-billion dollar Jobs and Competitiveness Program to support those industries and to support those jobs. It should disappoint all Australians that the opposition came into this parliament and not only voted against that, but they also voted against a $300 million support plan for the steel industry—that is, having gone round the country pretending that they are interested in blue-collar jobs, when it came to recording their vote in this parliament in favour of blue-collar jobs they refused to do so.

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