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

I thank the honourable member for his question. I note the honourable member's hard work in such things such as making sure we drive ahead with the Rookwood Weir—trying to get a new dam built in Central Queensland. It is very important. To the honourable member, we are not getting much support from the Queensland Labor Party—none at all. They are pretty hopeless.

The honourable member understands all about what it is like to do a day's work. He has been a fettler, a miner, a truck driver. He understands what it is like to work and he understands how important blue-collar jobs are. I note that in the gallery I have Peter Petty. He has been a farrier. He has knocked a few sets of shoes on horses. He has Greg beside him and Mick Pearce. They are all people who have done a day's work. It is very important. We want to stand up for people who actually go to work and do a job. They might not have gone to university, they might not have been a union official, they might not have had the luck of becoming a teacher, but they get a job as a manufacturing worker. To do that, of course, you are going to need either cheap wages—and we do not want those—or cheap power.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

I do not know whether the member for Grayndler has ever worked. I know the member for Grayndler has never done any work. He tries to be the bovver boy; he is more the St Mary's Cathedral boy. That is the member for Grayndler. He cannot even get a question. It is very important that we understand the markets that we are opening up—

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

See this speech in context