Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make my contribution to taking note of answers to questions put to Minister Nash today. I think it is amazing that, all of a sudden, everyone in this chamber is so interested in Western Australia. I think we should be interested in Western Australia every day, not just because there is a Senate election coming. I find it very hypocritical when I hear the nonsense coming from the Leader of the Government in the Senate, ably backed up by the chirping of non-Western Australian senators, about this 'job-destroying' tax. What a load of nonsense!

I made a contribution this morning which referred to just how well the mining tax is going, but I ask the question all the time: 'If it is that bad and job destroying, what mines have shut down?' The silence is deafening; nothing has shut down. I want to share something that is very important to help people get a handle on what the Abbott government really thinks of Western Australia. On Sunday, 17 February 2013 at a Western Australian Liberal Party campaign rally, the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, was invited to speak. He said to the madding crowd that he hoped to model his government on Premier Colin Barnett's. For those who do not know, Premier Colin Barnett is the Liberal Premier of Western Australia. He went on further to say to the madding crowd—