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

I will take the interjection. At least the member for Dawson stands up for workers, such as would be employed at Adani, because you do not. You do not believe in the mining workers any more. You have given up on the mining workers, because you are mates with the Greens. You know your true friends. That is who you are fighting for, and people get it. People know that you are not serious about the mining industry in Central Queensland. Today they were absolutely flummoxed that you have come up with an idea where foreign workers, imported workers, taking Australian jobs are going to be taxed at a marginal rate—my daughters will be up there picking fruit and their marginal tax rate will be 19 cents in the dollar. It would have been the same as for the foreign workers working beside them, but in your stroke of genius today their tax rate is going to be half of what the other farm workers are paying.

That is what you think of Australian workers. That is where you put your heart. What is your explanation for that? Do not laugh at the fact that you make a disadvantage. You do not laugh at the fact that you make a strategic disadvantage against Australian jobs, against Australian workers. You do not laugh at the fact that your party now is making it easier to employ overseas workers than Australian workers. You should not be laughing at that. You should be standing up on behalf of your workers, but you do not.

It is all rhetoric and rubbish. You do not actually believe it. You do not stand up for it—or you have no weight in caucus and you cannot get things turned around. Did you actually know about it today? Did you know about their announcement? Did you care about it? Did it matter? How could you possibly come in here and move an MPI on jobs for Australians the day you brought about a disincentive for jobs for Australians? This is amazing. It would be interesting if the next speaker could explain to us—I put this challenge to you—why, today, you have created an incentive to employ overseas workers over Australian workers. Explain to us why you are doing that. Explain why a person who is over a tax-free threshold of $18,200 a year—my daughter, other farm workers—will be paying tax of 19c in the dollar and your proposal today is that the people who will take their jobs will be paying 10½c in the dollar.

You explain that to me. Explain to me how that fits into the ethos of the Labor Party. What part of the Labor Party platform is that? And while you are at it you can explain why you do not believe in decentralisation, explain to me why you do not believe in the inland rail, explain to me why you do not believe in electricity reliability. You can explain so much, because it is a complete and utter hypocrisy, on a day like today, that you would be talking about Australian jobs.

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