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

The Leader of the National Party has asked a question based on an entirely false premise. The assertion he is putting to this parliament is wrong. Let me repeat the words of the managing director of Alcoa. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition that if he wants to make these sorts of distorting claims then I hope he has the integrity to ring up the managing director of Alcoa and say that he is accusing the managing director of Alcoa of speaking untruths. The managing director of Alcoa has said, as I quoted in answer to my last question, that the current situation has not been brought about by the upcoming carbon price but as a result of the international price on aluminium and the high Australian dollar.

The fact that the opposition has now degenerated into chatting among themselves and smiling shows just how little regard they have for the jobs of these workers. For them this is all just one big political joke. They do not care at all. It is written all over their faces, all over their smiles and their chatter to each other. They do not care about these jobs. These jobs, for them, are just a convenient political plaything as they come in here with their negativity and cheap politics. The Leader of the National Party has asked an incorrect question; it is factually wrong. In insulting these workers and the company they work for it is, in my view, morally wrong as well.

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