Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

which governments in the past have made available in areas that have been hit by this kind of restructuring. We will make that money available to try to ensure that Adelaide and Geelong and western Melbourne have the kind of dynamic, viable, ongoing businesses into which these skilled, hard-working and adaptable workers can move. There are industries where we are competitive—in manufacturing for the mining industry, in niche manufacturing and in R&D. All of these things we can compete in—in tourism, in agriculture and in mining. We can compete in all of those industries.

The loss of BHP was a much more dramatic problem for Newcastle than the loss of Holden will be for western Melbourne and for Adelaide. Because government made sensible investments, because people did not give up hope and because we did not have the gloom and doom being preached by the Leader of the Opposition, those workers found a future and that city found a future, just as Adelaide and outer metropolitan Melbourne will find a future, and can have a future under a government which respects workers and will do the right thing by them.

The best thing we can do for the workers of this country is to ensure that taxes are low, that regulation is low and that productivity is high. That is what we are doing. Unfortunately, every single thing that we are doing to help the manufacturing workers of this country is being blocked by members opposite. Stop trying to put shackles on the workers of this country, give them a chance and back the policies of this government.

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