Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

They don't believe in those jobs! They are two jobs they do not believe in. So the shadow Treasurer, the shadow minister for agriculture and the member for Grayndler launched themselves into a press conference to announce that the new tax rate for the people from Umbria, for the people from Vermont, for the people who are making their way over here from Lithuania, for all those good backpackers making their way in from all countries around the world, will be at some stage a third of the marginal tax rate of Australian workers.

What else have we noticed lately? The closure of the power station at Hazelwood, costing 750 jobs. Who is responsible for that? Labor is responsible for that. These people are losing their work. Then, we try to get more work going by standing behind the construction of Rookwood Weir, which would create 2,100 jobs. Who fights against us on that? The Labor Party. Who is going to take away the funding for that? The Labor Party. Who is going to take away the extra billion dollars a year for Central Queensland? The Labor Party.

When you peel back this onion you find that there are no friends in the Labor Party for the workers. When we try to ensure we have reliable electricity, we look at the policies of South Australia, where the Labor Party is, and what do we see? A blackout. What is the result to industry? They are trying to work out how they can get out of there, because the policies of the Labor Party are so unconducive to keeping people in full-time work. We look forward to the Labor Party's explanation. It is a shame that the shadow Treasurer was also booted out today, because maybe he could explain to us how he is going to pay for his rate at 10.5 per cent—how he is actually going to pay for the half a billion dollars.

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