Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Our friend over there might tell us about the ethanol industry and what might happen to them. We might see what happens to them.

This is a government with no policy on jobs. They have a figure but they have no policy. All they have is aggression, bullying, lectures, platitudes and blame. When all of that is finished, the Prime Minister comes in here and has no answers at all. So, when I ask him a question about what is the difference between unemployment in Denison and unemployment in Wakefield, what answer do I get? 'Refer to my previous answers.' That is not good enough. I remember seeing those opposite, back when I was at university, castigating Prime Minister Keating for not turning up to question time and answering questions. This Prime Minister turns up and just does not answer the questions. So it as an interesting approach: bullying, lectures, platitudes, finger pointing at workers and then not showing up. We saw the Treasurer giving us lectures about Abdul the kebab shop owner. I wonder how kebab shops are doing in Elizabeth, Shepparton, Orange or Altona, because you have to actually sell your kebabs to be able to update your oven, and under the previous government you got loss carry-back anyway, which might have helped you buy that.

We get no answers and no plan. All we get is blame and aggression from those opposite, particularly directed at the victims of their economic incompetence, which is the most tragic thing. From Elizabeth to Nhulunbuy, south to north, and from Altona to Western Australia, east to west, we see the consequences of this government's actions.

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