Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

is unsustainable. And why? Because when you subsidise one business you are taking out of another business, or from consumers. You are actually taking money from one Australian and giving it to another business. And that is not sustainable, particularly in a globalised trading environment.

We regret that international manufacturers in Australia have closed plants. Others have opened plants, and in fact other manufacturers have expanded operations in Australia. But the fact is that if we continue to have protection of Australian industry then that will impede our ability to get other countries to break down protections for their own industries. Australia as a nation produces much more than we consume, and because we produce much more than we consume we want free trade. We need free trade, because ultimately trade makes us richer. It is like running a corner store: the more people who come in the front door and buy your goods, the richer the business is going to be. And that is what we need to be as a nation. So, if we can do anything to break down the trade barriers of other countries, that will help us. We are a reasonably sized open economy, and as such we need to ensure that there is freer trade around the world. Everything we are doing is about creating more jobs, not subsidising foreign companies.

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