Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I commence I would like to congratulate the parliamentary secretary at the table, who was honoured today by the Institution of Engineers. There will actually be a tree planted here in Canberra for those in the House of Representatives and those in the Senate who are former engineers. I congratulate the parliamentary secretary.

I had the great misfortune to sit through the contribution from the member for McMahon. As much as I hate to admit it, there is something on which we agree, and that is that small business is incredibly important to employment in Australia. It is the backbone of employment in my state of Queensland. Over 90 per cent of all employment in Queensland is through small business. It is incredibly important. As someone who actually came from 'the world' before I came in here—I owned a small business, employed people and paid bills; I had a consulting firm, a training business and a farm—I can tell you that the destroyers of small business are those opposite. The federal Labor Party and the state Labor Party—it does not matter which one—destroy employment in small business. When they brought in the carbon tax, the mining tax, the red tape, the deal with the Greens, my business, which used to average over 65 miners trained every month, went from 65 to three in a week. They absolutely destroyed the mining industry in Queensland. There are over 10,000 of these people, skilled and trained, sitting around at home with no work because of the deal that was done between those opposite and the Greens. They are the great destroyers of industry in this country. It is absolutely unacceptable.

And what have we got now? Unfortunately in Queensland we now have a Labor state government. And what have they announced? Two days before the election, in a very sneaky press release, they announced that they would close all of the net fishing areas in Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. There are only 220 net fishing licences left in Queensland. These are the hardworking people of Australia. They go out and do their job. They know how to manage their catch and they have been doing it for generations. What is the solution of state Labor? They will close the lot! If you live in Queensland and you want to eat fresh fish, that is very unfortunate because you will not be able to access it. My electorate is a very low socioeconomic area and I represent a lot of people who are actually poor. If you want to eat healthy in Queensland you eat fish. What sort of fish do you eat? I am sure that the shadow minister for agriculture would know. You eat mullet. How do you get mullet? Mullet is the cheapest fish available because it is plentiful and it replenishes very quickly. But it comes from net fishermen. If it is not available, people will eat imported product—in particular, from Vietnam. It is an absolute disgrace for the member for McMahon to come in here and talk about small business. It is quite incredible.

The member for McEwen, who has just left the chamber, talked about fuel prices. Well, I can tell you that the Minister for Small Business stood up and got the ACCC to investigate fuel pricing after complaints from me and a number of other regional members because when the wholesale price of oil fell substantially to under $50 a barrel we were very concerned that the price in the regions would not drop proportionately, which it did not. In the city it got to under $1. I am sure that those members here who live in the city were quite appreciative of the price of 99c for a litre of petrol. However, in the regions we were still paying $1.30, $1.40 or $1.50. It was quite incredible. Imagine my surprise when the report was completed and, lo and behold, it turned out that we were paying more for petrol than the others. The proportional drop in regional centres was not as much as it should have been. There was a difference of greater than 10c. I knew people were being robbed. I am sure the member for Riverina knew they were being robbed. The ACCC knew they were being robbed. Everybody now knows they were being robbed. As a result, guess what has happened? I filled my car up with diesel last week. Once again, imagine my surprise to find that, for the first time in many years, the price of retail diesel in regional Australia is less than the price of unleaded petrol. It was an absolute surprise to me because it has been a long way up. So we are taking action and we have made a difference on fuel prices, particularly in the regions. But what have those opposite done? All they have done is left us with hand grenades, booby traps and hollow logs—and they have back-ended the budget. We will get a bill. Everybody has a bill—a bill from Bill Shorten. It is absolutely stunning to me that that is the case.

To wrap up I will borrow something from the Queensland Treasurer, Tim Nicholls. We all recall the world's greatest Treasurer, the member for Lilley. Bruce Springsteen was his economic idol! Unfortunately 'The Boss', in the Queensland media, cautioned Mr Swan against relying too heavily on him, saying he was not too good with his own money. And the former Queensland Treasurer said, 'While the member for Lilley might think he was born to run, the truth is the was blinded by the light and he and his leaders Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd were simply dancing in the dark!'

See this speech in context