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

After your contribution on the NBN, Senator Conroy, I would curl up in a little round ball and hide under the desk.

When Hawke and Keating took tariffs off, we became part of the world. We could not then just hide behind a tariff wall. We all applauded that—you applauded that. But what Keating and Hawke did was say, 'We are competitive,' so we had to take on the rest of the world in car manufacturing where costs are so much lower, where wages are so much lower and where OH&S is so much more realistic. This is the result that is coming home. We used to get by by paying higher wages and by paying for good conditions. We all want that for workers, but that was all underpinned by having cheap energy. That is what we did in Australia. We had high wages and high conditions and we all applauded it. Then, you came along. The one thing that we had going for Australia was the abundance of cheap coal and cheap energy. So what did you do then? You said: 'Here is our natural advantage. We do not need a natural advantage and our workers do not need a natural advantage. We will throw them to the wolves.' You through them to the wolves and you put a $400 carbon tax on every car.

While you procrastinate and not let the legislation go through, while you filibuster, you are hurting every worker in Australia, because you will not recognise that it is not only Holden and Ford but also Qantas who have to pay a $100 million carbon tax. It is the whole industry. Today a little mine in Queensland with 200 workers went belly-up. Why? Because there is a carbon tax. There is a litany of broken manufacturers out there, and you let these people go broke: McCain, with 59 employees—gone; Simplot—gone; Golden Circle—gone; Downer EDI—gone; Electrolux—gone; Caterpillar—gone; Rio Tinto, out of Gove; WesTrac—gone; and Peabody Energy—gone today. Then there is Kresta, Cussons, Aeroguard, Harley-Davidson, Bosch, Penrice Soda, Norsk Hydro, Shell and Goodman Fielder, and Queensland Aluminium where 4,500 jobs have been lost. While the jobs are flooding out, you are procrastinating. All of this is not only because of a carbon tax and renewable energy but also because of the high dollar. But the carbon tax and renewable energy are playing a very significant role in the demise of Australian industry.

How can you face this parliament? How can you possibly go back and talk to unions when you are slitting their throats and costing them jobs? You are destroying them. Why do you take their money? Why do you take their union fees and betray them? You are betraying them every time you try to block the repeal of the carbon tax. The carbon tax has destroyed so many jobs in the manufacturing industry and so many jobs in the mining industry. The mining and coal industries are trying to make a quid; many of them are not. They are saying, 'If we didn't have a mining tax and if we didn't have a carbon tax, we would not be terribly profitable but we would be in the black, not in the red.' What is wrong with you? Why do you have to be led around by the nose by the Greens? Why do you have to do take notice of them? (Time expired)