Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I don't know where to start with that! There is something for everybody when the member for Mackellar speaks in this chamber! First of all, he said that JobKeeper is a form of welfare that is enslaving businesses. I just want to remind the member for Mackellar of the criticism of what his government has done: 'Ending JobKeeper is signing a death warrant for our industry.' Was that the member for Oxley saying that? Was that the member for Macquarie saying that? No, it was tourism operator Roderic Rees on the front page of our local paper The Courier Mail yesterday. How dare the member for Mackellar criticise and condemn industry and business leaders for speaking out against what his government is doing. The article goes on to say of Mr Rees:

With his workforce virtually halved, he had a blunt warning for others in the industry who were fearful of what might happen once JobKeeper winds up.

"There's a cliff face coming, make no mistake about it," …

"Get ready to start haemorrhaging money. All your subsidies and your safety nets are gone.

"I'm going to watch a lot of my friends' businesses go broke.

The member for Mackellar is big on lectures and big on responsibility, but he's actually not delivering for people by not creating jobs and not supporting industry in our country. We on this side are supporting industry and are supporting small businesses.

I thank the member for Macquarie for putting this MPI on the JobKeeper payment on the agenda today. What was your MPI going to be about today—not respecting women? What was your MPI going to be about today—cutting support for industry?

The minister at the table, Minister Pitt, in his contribution once again slagged off the state government for keeping Queensland safe. No wonder there was an 11.1 per cent swing in the state seat of Hervey Bay in his own electorate—the LNP completely wiped off the face of the earth. No wonder there was an 8.8 per cent primary swing in the state seat of Bundaberg—wiped off the face of the earth in his own electorate. Keep telling the voters in your own electorate that you wanted borders open—keep telling the voters in your own community that you didn't want to keep them safe. You know who told them that she wanted to keep them safe? Our Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. You may have been rubbishing her, but the people of Queensland don't agree with you. No wonder the LNP were thrown out of office at the last election. They had no hope. Their vote went backwards, and the member for Hinkler is still carrying on, saying that he wants the borders open. He's still carrying on about the dozens of times the economy would have been smashed if the member for Hinkler had had anything to do with Queensland state politics. The economy would have been destroyed if you'd opened the borders, as those opposite wished, during the last election, and he is saying 'rubbish'. We will be reminding the voters in Hinkler at the next election that it was he who wanted the borders open. He wanted his community to be kept at risk. Well, I'm glad that we have a strong premier. Didn't you get the message from Western Australia? Didn't you hear the message on the weekend? Start opening your ears—

Mr Pitt interjecting—

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