Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do support the extension of the timing. We spent three weeks listening to evidence in the Senate Select Committee on Climate Policy in order to scrutinise one bill. I understand there are 11 bills being put into the House this morning. As Senator Joyce has said, yes, the National Party is totally committed on this. Nevertheless, we reserve the right to expose further flaws in the bill. Even the people who are not as committed as Senator Joyce and me in the National Party have the right to understand what is wrong with these bills. We will put the spotlight on them, let people give evidence and have a look, and then bring it back. So I fully support the extension of time.

I want to pick up on some of the contribution made by Senator Wong. I do not normally feel sorry for Senator Wong. I think she does a job. But she had to stand next to the Prime Minister the other night. He had already told the Australian people that if we did not act now we were going to be swamped by seas and burnt to death and that it would never rain again. And Senator Wong, in reply to questions from me, has continued that message in the Senate time after time. But I felt sorry for Senator Wong there; she looked shattered. She did not know where to go. The Prime Minister completely pulled the rug out from under her. So, Senator Wong, you were dumped.

Then they said, ‘Senator Wong is not cutting through; let’s get Mr Combet and we’ll run him on as a reserve.’ He has gone out and he has tried to buy off industry after industry with little bits of bait here and there, but I do not think he is achieving anything, because delaying these bills for a year is not going to do anything. It is just going to give a reprieve for a year.

I sat on a committee with Senator Wong and Senator Cameron, and I recall that only one person, one manufacturer, Origin Energy—they have a few wind farms but really are a retailer and can pass the cost on—actually supported this legislation. They are the only ones who actually manufacture anything. I listened to the paper industry in Tasmania, I listened to the zinc industry in Tasmania, and they were totally opposed to this climate change legislation as it has been put up by the government. I went to Western Australia and I listened to the gas industry, and I listened to primary industries. They were totally opposed. We went to Melbourne—to the steel industry, the paper industry and the mining industry. Every industry in Australia is opposed to this legislation, because they know it is going to cost them jobs. They know it is going to wipe them out. Some of the industries have said, ‘It will not particularly worry us cost-wise. We’ll just turn the elevators around and instead of exporting we’ll import. We’ve got the silos that we export out of. We’ll just close our manufacturing down. We won’t do it immediately; there is no certainty, and we won’t spend any more money on these plants and equipment. As they run down we will just import more and, as the equipment gets old and obsolete, we will import more.’ Senator Wong, I commend to you the evidence that people gave. They are not doing it because they do not want climate change or because they want to oppose it but because they know what the legislation is going to do to their business.

There is something missing in this debate, and I cannot understand it. I can understand where the Greens are coming from, and that is legitimate. I can understand where the National Party is coming from, and I understand where the Liberal Party is coming from. But what is missing in this debate is this: why is the Labor Party ratting on their blue-collar workers? We have been told by every industry in Australia that this is going to cost jobs. We have been told by the dairy industry that it is going to cost the dairy farmers $9,000 per farm—that is just for the dairying; the price will go up when the cows have to be slaughtered. We are also told by the dairy processors, ‘It is going to impact on our process workers.’ We have been told by every industry, ‘Our process workers are going to suffer.’ In the mining industry, 10,000 jobs are going to go. Those are blue-collar jobs. Why are you selling those people out? And why do you take their union fees? Why do you go out and say, ‘Pay your $400, $500 or $600; we’re looking after you?’ You are selling them out. You are taking their money and you are selling them out.