Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those of us who have been around this place for a while, as I have, will remember that Senator Carr was once the minister for industry. We remember how in question time after question time, speech after speech, Senator Carr was softening up Australia for the bad news. It was during the time of his leadership of the industry portfolio that the manufacturers decided it was time to get out of Australia. The subsidies the government was then giving—taxpayers funding these multinational or American companies—were no longer viable. Senator Carr knew that himself, and he presided over the downturn of the car industry, which occurred just after the Labor government was defeated at the 2013 election.