Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Hansard source

But it has also cost small businesses—it cost Possums Store in Port Lincoln $20,000 after their refrigeration was lost, their food was spoiled and their ability to carry on operations was compromised. That is what is actually happening to real jobs and real employment in South Australia.

There are two different approaches to dealing with this problem. On our side, there is a practical approach. We have been supporting Arrium with $49 million for a loan to upgrade their beneficiation plant. We have been supporting Arrium with 1,200 kilometres of rail track through an Australian Rail Track Corporation contract, and the environment minister, working with the Prime Minister, called an emergency meeting of COAG to address the issues of energy security and energy affordability, and to commission an emergency assessment of these issues.

There is, however, also another approach—the Labor Party approach. Yesterday, in the Senate, Senator Waters of the Greens and Senator Dastyari put up a motion saying that they wanted to consider regulated, planned closures of electricity generation and other industrial assets. What that says is that they want to close power stations, steel factories and lead and zinc—what else do they want to close? What do they mean by regulated, planned closures of other industrial assets? That means steel. That means cement. That means aluminium. And that means jobs of workers whose families depend on that income. This is a new moment in Australian industrial history—(Time expired)

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