Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on Senator Cameron's motion to take note of answers in question time today, including those concerning Qantas, and on the government's lack of interest in protecting Australian jobs. The Australian people were promised that under Mr Tony Abbott's Australia we would be open for business. The Prime Minister said that Australia was under new management. If this is what new management looks like, I think Australia would want a change of ownership at the till, quick smart. Every day it is reinforced that this is neither the government Australia was promised nor the government that they voted for. This is a secretive, mean government and a hard government. It is a government of cuts and of no compassion. It is a government of job losses, not job savings. What it also does is send the signal of complete business uncertainty. It does not support business and it creates uncertainty.

In fact, the only export industry the government has supported is the export of Australian jobs. It is an industry that is flourishing under this Prime Minister. On the Prime Minister's watch, the government dared Holden to leave—and it did. The government sent the same signal to Toyota, and it left too. The car manufacturing sector and the car components sector are now looking down the barrel of dismal outcomes, shell-shocked because of this government's lack of care or interest in Australian jobs. It refused to lift a finger to help SPC Ardmona and—this is choice—dropped the Victorian Premier in the deep end in the process. It blocked a boost of investment in GrainCorp when the old doormats—the National Party—got their way, and the government allowed them one win.

This is all clear evidence of this government's true form: ignoring Australian jobs and running Australia out of business. Let us be clear: the government played chicken with Qantas, and it played chicken with the workers of Qantas. It led Qantas down the garden path, trailing its coat and leading them to believe that a debt guarantee was coming. After the Treasurer, Mr Hockey, finished his dance of a thousand veils, the government said no to Qantas. With it, the thousands and thousands of Australian jobs were all put at risk by the government's reckless behaviour.

Earlier today, the repeal of section 3 of the Qantas Sales Act was rammed through the other place. This is a government that took months and months to put in place any support package for struggling, drought impacted farmers. But it took it less than a week to introduce and pass a bill to break up Qantas and send thousands of jobs to the wall. The Treasurer told us he was being dragged, kicking and screaming, to the aid of Qantas. But it did not seem too hard to get the repeal bill drafted and through the parliament. It must have been interesting to watch him hold onto that while kicking and screaming.

I suspect that this government has been doing more than a little bit of work behind the scenes to get ready to launch its ideological crusade against Australian jobs. You would have to think, 'What else they are hiding here?' This is a government that wants to continue to operate in secrecy, to hide from the public what it is doing and then, suddenly, to pop out of the box with its ultimate conclusion while misleading all the way. Treasurer Hockey was out there, misleading the public, saying, 'Yes, a debt guarantee; but only if you drag me kicking and screaming.' Suddenly we find that, within a very short space of time, a debt guarantee is off the table—he will not do that—and it is, 'Let's break up Qantas. Let's have a Qantas Sales Act wholesale sale.'

The answers about this lie on Mr Hockey's desk. The commission of cuts is there as well, and what will it show? That will be interesting. Will we see the Treasurer being dragged, kicking and screaming, saying, 'No, no,' to this commission of cuts? I do not think so. I think we will see Mr Joe Hockey embrace the commission of cuts because that is where he feels most comfortable—cutting to the bone and ensuring that workers lose their jobs. What this government stands for is not big business and not Australian jobs. It wants to export Australian jobs, and it wants to give big business uncertainty. (Time expired)