Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry, Mr Speaker. Should the Leader of the Opposition ever become the leader of this country, we know the collapse of that house of cards will see a collapse in trade policy in this country. We don't know what Labor believes on trade. We know, and Australians know, that we believe in creating economic opportunity. We know, and Australians know, that we believe in creating jobs for Australians through trade. In fact, more than a million have been created in this country on our watch.

But Labor's policy still remains so unclear. That confusion manifests in lots of different ways. We see it because the Left have become so rambunctious—because they're unhappy with where the leader is going. And we also see it in others who know the fundamental importance of trade and who are displeased that the Australian Labor Party has no consistency and no clear compass for where they're going on trade.

The simple fact is that Labor's policy on trade is clear: in six years they were unable to start and conclude a single trade deal. So compare and contrast that with a government that knows what it believes, that puts in place export opportunities, that drives economic growth and that creates jobs. Compare it to an Australian Labor Party, that is completely lost when it comes to trade in this country.

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