Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I hear the member for Hunter go, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa.' It is a fact, Member for Hunter, that Labor does not like mining. I don't know what Labor is going to do going forward when the renewable energy sector cannot provide the same sorts of power, reliability, accessibility and availability to energy sources, because it is going to happen—we are going to get black outs. We are going to be shutting down factories and manufacturing. Labor goes on and on about it being made in Australia. Let me tell you: when the lights can't be turned on and the power can't be sourced because of Labor's rush to renewables, we're not going to have a coal sector, and we're not going to be having those coal-fired power stations—

which have provided, for decades—I hear you use the word 'decades'—the energy sources upon which this nation has relied and upon which this nation has very much gained good export earnings.

This motion, brought to the parliament by the member for Forde, is about productivity. When you look at productivity, you look at factors such as living standards. Real disposable income net per capita has fallen by 8.7 per cent under Labor. Productivity has collapsed 6.3 per cent. Household savings are down 10.2 percentage points. Personal income taxes are 25.3 per cent higher. Interest paid on mortgages has almost tripled. How then do we produce a set of numbers that are going to lead to economic activity and productivity gains? We're not.

What we get is a treasurer who's going around and blaming everybody bar himself and his policies. Last week he came out and talked about how the RBA and through governor, Michele Bullock, are smashing the economy. It was like that naughty schoolboy who comes to school not having done his homework and blaming the poor family pet, the dog, for eating said homework. It is his fault. It is the Treasurer's fault that we have a national productivity decline. It is his fault that we have inflation rampantly out of control. It is his fault that we don't just have a crisis in cost of living but a crisis of confidence—confidence by our small-business operators.

This is an anti-mining, anti-resource government. But almost just as bad—probably worse—this is an anti-agriculture government. Tomorrow morning we get the opportunity to hear from some of those farmers, those Keep the Sheep farmers—those brave souls from Western Australia who are getting their industry shut down. Shame on the Treasurer because in the last budget he delivered, right at that spot there, that the largest amount of money being spent on agriculture in that economic statement was to shut down an industry—$107 million to shut down live sheep. Australia led the world in that export trade and led the world in animal welfare standards. Tomorrow is a big test. See how many Labor members go out and address those farmers out on the front lawn.

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