Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

And I'm happy to take the interjection. I'm the grandson of an orphan who left an orphanage at 15 with the clothes on his back. He put everything on the line. He aspired, with my grandmother, to start our business. Am I ashamed of that? No, I'm not. What have I done? I've spent 23 years working and growing that business, working side by side with my staff. As for the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, in all her mentions of all the workers, the one thing she didn't mention was that every worker employed, that she mentioned, came at the end of a small and family business operator—the overwhelming majority of them—putting their family home on the line, taking a risk, backing themselves and employing people.

I get asked this question by parents all the time: 'Where are my kids' jobs going to come from?' And I'm sure they're hoping for some pearl of wisdom about the internet of things, Industry 4.0, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The reality is simple: the jobs of tomorrow are going to come from where they've always come from—entrepreneurs prepared to back themselves, take on bank debt, start a business, grow that business and employ people.

That's exactly what the Prime Minister has done in his career. He started in his career as a lawyer. And he moved to the private sector afterwards. It's so sad! Modern politics—do you want to know why people are so off it? Ten minutes of tearing apart someone who should be a role model—the same as you; you all should be role models. We should be proud of our politicians in this place. Why? Because a person like the Prime Minister has seen fit to turn his back on his own career and serve the public, as you all have. But what do we do in this place? We stand here and we assassinate the reputation of everyone. Well, I say: rubbish! And I'm not surprised people are over it, because I'm over it too.

The Leader of the Opposition wants to stand at the dispatch box and do the same as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Yet his pathway to where he sits today was absolutely privileged as well. And good luck to him. He shouldn't be embarrassed by it; he should be proud of it. He's here serving his community. But what do we do? We just want to throw barbs at either side of the chamber. Do you know what? The Prime Minister of this country is a role model. He should be proud of his journey. People should see what he's had the chance to do and be encouraged by it. They might want to do the same.

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