John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, that's it—this business estate has to cough up $225,000, yet the network is being rolled past the homes of elderly people who do not even have a computer. You are rolling it past the houses of people who do not have computers and you expect the business estate to throw up almost a quarter of a million dollars for your magnificent NBN. Where is the money coming from? You are stealing it from business or borrowing it. You are experts in borrowing.

Let's talk about Labor's interest in rural Australia. I know a couple of former Labor politicians who are very interested in rural Australia. One is a bloke by the name of Eddie Obeid. The other is his former New South Wales ministerial colleague Ian Macdonald. Mr Macdonald had a special magic atlas in his office which enabled him to look at a part of regional Australia—say, the Bylong Valley—and immediately announce that there was coal there. Those two former Labor politicians had tremendous interest in rural and regional Australia. Mr Obeid knew there was real potential in regional Australia—he reckoned the real estate was really cheap. This is amazing. This is the interest we see from the Australian Labor Party in rural and regional Australia. Time will deliver more.

Senator Polley interjecting—

I have a simple question to ask. Perhaps Senator Polley will take it on notice. Perhaps she could explain to the Senate how many cabinet ministers in the Gillard government live in rural or regional Australia? I know the answer. The answer is none—not one. They are city people who think they understand rural and regional Australia. Not one of your cabinet ministers lives in a rural area. That must be terribly embarrassing for you when you argue against this motion of Senator Fifield's in which we say you haven't been fair. The way you have treated rural and regional Australia is a disgrace. The people of Australia are going to let you and your colleagues the Greens—and their very close friends, Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott—know that in the biggest way possible on 14 September. The people have the final say.

We saw it last weekend. This government governs for 20 per cent of working Australians. These days around 20 per cent of workers are members of unions. We saw it all at the AWU conference. We saw Mr Paul Howes, the man who brought down a prime minister. What was his great message for the weekend? 'You in the Labor Party, get behind the Prime Minister. Be supportive of her. Be stable. Do not be divisive. You must support Prime Minister Julia Gillard.' What did Paul Howes himself do in June 2010? He was one of the faceless men who did away with the previous Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd. Yet here he is with a halo around his head, with the cameras there so all Australians can see, lecturing all at the AWU conference: 'Get behind the Prime Minister'. The word hypocrisy comes to mind, Mr Howes.

This is the very person who had around 4,000 people protesting outside the front of this building about the carbon tax which was never going to be introduced. He said on TV that there were about 350. The man cannot even count, although he can count numbers when it comes to doing away with prime ministers. But now he is saying, 'Let's get behind her.' As I said, only 20 per cent of workers are in the union movement, yet Prime Minister Gillard was there, saying how she loved the unions, how they would get so strong together and how they would unite.

No, Prime Minister, you are dividing. How can you represent the workers of this country—the Aussie battlers—when you go and love up to the 20 per cent of workers represented by the unions? And that figure will go down. I wonder how the membership of the Health Services Union is going? Are they signing up new members, I wonder, or are their members just pulling the pin and leaving? If they were pulling the pin and leaving—resigning from the union—I could understand that.

Consider the lady who is cleaning the bathroom and toilets in the hospital tonight: she might be 60 years old—a good solid worker; reared a family; a battler; she and her husband paid for the house. If she resigned from the Health Services Union, would you blame her? Would you blame her, to see where her union fees had gone? You would not blame her one bit. I can assure you there will be more to come out in the future, too, in this chamber. But do not think that the Health Services Union is the only union that has abused members' contributions and membership fees. I must say that I was a member of the Australian Workers Union for 12 months. It was in the days when they said unionism was not compulsory but that I had an option: join the union or leave the shearing shed. This was the compulsory unionism that we faced back in1978. They would not do it today. That is what we faced.

You are a government of division. The way you have divided rural and regional Australia from the urban areas is unbelievable. You look after where your votes are and you do not care about the rest. I look forward to a change in government when we can govern for all Australians, be fair to small business, be fair to education, be fair to an independent youth allowance and be fair to those who are having a go. For too long, you have rewarded failure and penalised success. That is what you are about. I can go to the private health insurance rebate—'We will never remove that. No, it's a promise,' said shadow minister Roxon. 'We will never remove that.' Well, of course you did.

The people do not trust you. That is why Australians are turning against you. You cannot keep your word. You break your promises; you break your commitments. They will let you know, come 14 September this year.