Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was an extraordinary double punch from the National Party. I really struggled to listen to much of it. We had the member for Calare—I thought some of his contribution regarding people in Orange was worthy of listening to. I understand exactly the sort of king-hit that communities can get from losing manufacturing industries. We're about to lose a car industry, thanks to this government, so I feel very keenly for those people in Orange who lost their jobs at that plant. It's all the more galling when you know that the plant was profitable. But that wasn't a decision of government; that was a corporate decision. It should be condemned for the profit-chasing, job-destroying rationale that it was. But the rest of his speech was a replication of the normal National Party talking points, which we got a bit of from the member for Hinkler and which, no doubt, we'll get a bit of from the next speaker as well. It is all this sort of stuff about Labor not knowing the country, blah, blah, blah. I grew up in a rural community. I grew up with farmers.

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