Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

Look at south-west Sydney where unemployment is up over 8.6 per cent and where teenage unemployment is now around 47 per cent. This is why the government supports the stimulus package and this is why we will continue to roll it out across the country. I note that Senator Macdonald has made a number of interjections concerning Cairns. That is something that I do want to talk about. Cairns is a community that has been hardest hit by the global recession, and what does Senator Macdonald want to do about Cairns? He wants to rip infrastructure projects away from Cairns, putting small businesses and tradesmen out of business. Plumbers and electricians in Cairns would be put out of business. This is the senator who comes from North Queensland, and that is his plan for Queensland: strip away stimulus, strip away funds and strip away projects. That is the Liberal Party’s response to unemployment. That is why they should be ashamed—(Time expired)