Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion against the Abbott government.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Lingiari moving immediately—That this House condemn the Abbott Government for its failure to take any action to protect jobs at Gove and note the callous disregard for the local community has been reinforced by the Prime Minister’s broken promise to visit in his first week as Prime Minister.

It is very clear; the disregard that this Prime Minister has shown for this community is palpable. We know—this community understands—the failure of this government to recognise its hour of need, the failure of this government to do something reasonable to address their needs, the failure of this government to understand the loss of jobs in this community and the surrounding region, and what this will mean. The government fail to realise what this will mean not only for the community of Gove but for the surrounding region.

I said in an earlier contribution that the population of Nhulunbuy was 4,000 people. The regional population—in an area probably the size of Victoria—is 14,000 people. We know that, as direct result of—

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