Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell, through the President, it is putting jobs at risk; it is putting manufacturing jobs at risk. I remember well the comments that Mr Howes made. I took a bit of interest at the time, through a Senate inquiry into Labor's carbon tax, about the impact of Labor's carbon tax on the economy and jobs. I remember when Paul Howes said that if one job was lost as a result of the carbon tax he would oppose it. If Paul Howes was fair dinkum then, if he was genuinely interested in the best interests of his members, he would have come out by now and he would have called on Labor to get out of the way and support our legislation to scrap this job-destroying carbon tax. It is not too late. We still have a day and a half to go. This filibuster here in the Senate, this disgraceful Labor Party filibuster on the carbon tax, has gone on for long enough. Bill Shorten clearly has not got what it takes to make judgements in the national interest. It is time that Paul Howes stood up for his members. (Time expired)