Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the member for McMahon back into the chamber and note with interest that the terms of the matter of public importance contain the word 'chaotic'—it is always a pleasure to have him back in the chamber given yesterday's unsavoury performance. This week is a great week for Labor because they have been celebrating the anniversary of the announcement of the abolition of the carbon tax by none other than the member for McMahon and the then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in Townsville not 12 months ago. Not 12 months ago this government stood in front of the Australian public and said 'We are abolishing the carbon tax' and yet this week they voted three times against its repeal. Here is a government that will continually say one thing and do another. I hardly need to take members back to a previous Prime Minister, Prime Minister Gillard, who said that there would be no carbon tax under a government she led. You cannot trust one thing those on the other side of this House say—you cannot even believe them when they say hello.

There are an enormous number of people in my electorate who are going to benefit from the measures we have introduced with reference to the carbon tax. The Hood family who are farmers and have large refrigerators to keep the fruit and vegetables fresh. Mulgowie Farms, Kalfresh, Bunny Bites, Moffats and many other businesses will benefit. There will be a $9 billion hand brake let off our economy. This is a great day and a great week for the budget of this nation. It will release the entrepreneurialship of our businesses and that money will be spent back in local communities and that in turn will have a direct impact on our budget and on productivity. When you take money out of that sector and you allow the multiplier effect to spread through the community, our nation will be better for it and it will prosper. We were elected to government to do a number of things: to fix the budget and to fix border security. In passing I concur with a previous speaker: the member for McMahon was a pretty ordinary immigration minister.

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