Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, the member for McEwen is right; this will save the budget $900 million. That may seem a lot of money, but I am sure the member for McEwen is aware that that $900 million will pay the interest bill on the debt left by the previous Labor government for about 23 days. Without paying any of the principle back, the interest bill run up by the previous Labor government is now costing this nation more than $1 billion a month. So that $900 million saving equates to 20-odd days worth of repayment of that debt—and we know that 70 per cent of that money simply flows out of the country because those government bonds had to be sold overseas to finance the previous six years of Labor government's reckless, wasteful and politically-inspired spending.

It is heartbreaking to see any business close down. When Holden and Toyota close, in two and three years time, it will cause some heartbreak to those people who are unable to find jobs. It will also cause pain to the regional areas where those factories have been set up. We in this parliament are right to express our concerns for those workers, even though they will receive some generous redundancy payments. This government has put together a $155 million growth fund to help those workers find new and better jobs and to help businesses in those areas diversify into new markets. That is great for the workers in the car industry. But over the six years of the previous Labor government we saw a net loss of 519,000 jobs of people who were employed in small business. Where was the subsidy package for those people? Where were the tears of members of the Labor Party who were coming in and expressing their concerns for those 520,000 people? Where were they? They were completely and utterly silent as more than half a million jobs in the small business sector were lost.

As I have listened to this debate I have heard Labor speaker after Labor speaker attempt to create a fiction by saying that somehow the closure of the car manufacturing industry here in Australia all happened under a coalition government—that it is all the coalition government's fault—and if only Labor were back in power all these jobs would be saved. But let us look at the facts. The first of Australia's major car manufacturers to close down was Nissan back in 1992—surprise, surprise—under a Labor government.

Mr Mitchell interjecting—

Then Mitsubishi followed in 2008, again under a Labor government. The member for McEwen may remember the closure of Mitsubishi in 2008. I think he was a member here then. When Ford announced its closure, in 2013, it was again under a Labor government. We have seen three major car companies close down when the Labor Party were actually in power, and yet we hear the idea that the coalition is somehow responsible for the closure of the car industry. We also hear the absolutely bald-faced hypocrisy of the Labor Party when Labor member after Labor member come into this chamber and claim the high moral ground, put their hands on their hearts and say, 'We are the supporters of Australian manufacturing.' They are the people who imposed the world's highest carbon tax on every Australian manufacturer in this country—which put every manufacturing company in this country at a comparative disadvantage with their competitors overseas who were not liable for that tax. If someone were producing an apple for an apple, the good produced here in Australia had the carbon tax on it and the good produced in a factory overseas did not have the carbon tax. That was one of the biggest hits to the manufacturing industry in this country. That is what the previous Labor government did. They voted time and time again, kicking and screaming, to retain the carbon tax. Of course, we know what will happen if they are ever returned to the treasury bench. Yesterday we heard the member for Chisholm make the most extraordinary statement. She actually stood there and said how outraged she was that her electricity bill had come down nine per cent! I am sure there must be an outrage amongst all those struggling manufacturing companies in Australia that their electricity bills are coming down nine and 10 per cent.

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