Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

He's a funny man! Gosh! He's in the wrong career, the member for Hunter. He should have been at the Emmys the other night. He would have done a lot better job!

We have to make sure that we get the absolute focus of this nation's parliament on helping these people who are doing it so tough during the drought. We now know that in the abattoirs—I was speaking to one the other day—they are killing many of the cows with the calf inside. That means people are going through their breeding herds. And because they're going through their breeding herds that means when the drought is over there's going to be serious problems for abattoirs. The stock prices will go through the roof and their capacity to make a dollar is going to go through the floor. The last thing we want is for these abattoirs to shut down, because that will mean blue-collar workers, who we have to look after that, will be out of work. Part of the challenge of this parliament would be to suggest how we're going to keep these workers—many of them are probably members of the AWU—in a job. Has the Labor Party ever proposed during question time a discussion about this? Of course not. They've talked about the reduction of carbon emissions. Well, I'm sure I'll be able to hand that to someone on the boning floor of a local abattoir. I'll say, 'What the Labor party is going to do for you is reduce carbon emissions. Good luck; I hope that keeps you in a job.' But I don't think it will. I think they'll be looking for something a little more direct than that.

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