Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

One thing is clear from Senator McKenzie's session here: Senator McKenzie is no Dr Sharman Stone. You are not prepared to stand up for the people of your region. You have dodged the issue; you have wandered all over the place. Yet Dr Sharman Stone was prepared to stand up and call it how it was. You have said that you want to tell us in the Senate what the people of Murray are saying. Let me remind you what the people's representative in the seat of Murray, Dr Sharman Stone, a Liberal member, is saying. No wonder the Nationals are concerned that the Liberals might get more seats in National Party territory, especially after that weak performance of yours here.

Dr Stone said that the Prime Minister was attempting to scapegoat the workers at SPC. There was not a word from the heroes of the National Party to stand up for the workers at SPC—not a word. Dr Stone said that what the Prime Minister was saying was just rubbish—it was a witch-hunt, it was a furphy, it was not the truth and it was a distraction from the facts that would require some government action. She went on to say that it is lying. This is a senior member of the Liberal Party out in what should be National Party territory calling it how it is. Where were the Nationals? They stood up here bleating about blue-collar jobs when they were in opposition. Where were you? Where was Senator Boswell? Nowhere to be seen. It is an absolute disgrace.

Dr Stone went on to say that the Prime Minister was blackening the character of SPC Ardmona workers. The Prime Minister was blackening the character of workers who are in trouble, who do not know if they are going to have a job, who will have a very limited future in that regional area. Yet what does the Leader of the Liberal Party do—the leader of the government, the Prime Minister? According to Dr Sharman Stone, a Liberal member, he is blackening the character of the workers at SPC. Don't come in here telling us what the people of Murray are saying. The member knows exactly what the situation is and she has gone out on the front foot with far more courage than the National Party have had on this. The National Party was done-over in the party room when they supported SPC—done-over once more trying to support regional communities. National Party members will continually be done-over as long as the Liberal Party extremists have control economic policy in this government. They will get done over time and time again, and workers' jobs will be lost.

I actually know what it is like to lose a job and be made redundant—not too many on the other side would. I have worked as blue-collar worker; I know what it is like to go home and tell my wife with a young child that I have lost my job, that I have been made redundant and that I do not know what the future is for the family. Yet what does this federal government do? It treats jobs with a cavalier attitude. There will be no government intervention. The extremists will say, 'It's all about destroying jobs in one area, with jobs being created in another area.' These are all economic fears of Schumpeter and all the nonsense we hear from the coalition. This is about real families; this is about real kids; this is about real communities. And you have let them down, Senator McKenzie, you have let them down by your craven approach to this issue.