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

They're laughing because they don't believe in blue-collar workers anymore. They don't. They believe that blue-collar workers are now politically incorrect and they're doing everything in their power to turn themselves into a party that represents the inner suburbs and other sections of the workforce but no longer blue-collar workers. There's very little experience in blue-collar work on that side of the chamber. Very few of them have ever actually been labourers. There are very few labourers in the Labor Party. They've given up on labourers in the Labor Party.

They've also given up on making sure that we look after the dignity of the people in the weatherboard and iron, in towns such as Augathella, Eulo, Eromanga, Birdsville, Goondiwindi, Kingaroy—that we look after these people who are doing it tough on the peripheries of society. We make sure that they have the dignity of affordable power in their house so they can keep themselves cool in summer and warm in winter and we make sure that we don't create second-class citizens of a section of Australian society. This is something that I know, in the National Party and in the coalition, we hold closest to our heart. Every time we look at policy, we are saying: 'How does this affect those at the margins of society? How do we make sure there's dignity in these people's lives?' We are not there for those who have more interest— (Time expired)

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