Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz, you've just offended me there! Why would it not have been of me?

Can I say, though, that the last nearly two hours have proven, time and time again, that the government do not want to be held accountable. They do not want people to know what is in that tax package. They don't want people to understand. There is no rush, because it's a refund anyway. People have got until June or July 2019. There is no rush. For you guys to come in here all of a sudden and say it's a rush is just a joke.

Of course, we're here to take note of answers in question time. The answer we are to take note of is the answer from Minister Cash to the question from Senator Carr. Once again, what the government demonstrated in relation to the question about 8,000 Telstra workers losing their jobs was that it just doesn't care. The answer talked about causing the economy to 'prosper and grow', but under this out-of-touch government Australians are suffering. They're suffering from stagnant wages, rising insecurity in employment, soaring costs of living and cuts to penalty rates. The mechanism that the government's put into place time and time and time again is to ensure that wages are kept low and that workers lose conditions. Both Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison are more concerned with ensuring tax cuts for millionaires than they are about doing anything to help workers, especially those 8,000 workers at Telstra. The government has made its feeling towards Telstra workers known, and, can I say, it is pretty disappointing.

When the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities, Mr Paul Fletcher, was asked this morning about the 8,000 job losses, his response was, 'These things happen.' It's hard to imagine a more callous response to 8,000 job losses than a minister in the Turnbull government shrugging his shoulders and saying, 'Well, these things happen.' I'm pretty sure those 8,000 families don't consider that these things just happen. It's clear that the government's got no sympathy and no real understanding of what happens when thousands of families and the communities around those families need to deal with 8,000 job losses. I've seen what happens with job losses, and it's not happy, let me tell you. It's distressing. It causes great personal and economic toll. It's not pleasant to watch. It's certainly not pleasant to be part of. The government should be watching and helping, not just shrugging their shoulders. Perhaps, if Mr Fletcher and Mr Turnbull don't believe the government has any power to do any good when events like this happen, they shouldn't have the responsibility of being in government.

I'm not yet aware of the magnitude of the job losses for Tasmania, but back in 2015 Telstra announced 38 job losses in Tasmania as part of another round of 1,400 national job losses, so I expect that the 8,000 jobs that are going will have an impact in Tasmania. That will be a massive blow, of course, to the Tasmanian community, including to regional Tasmania, which you guys, especially the new Nationals senator, should be a bit concerned about. It's absolutely clear you guys don't care about regional Tasmania. Your policies are focused on the Sydney millionaires, Mr Turnbull's friends and neighbours, and you know that.

We've got a Prime Minister that told a 60-year-old aged-care worker from the north-west coast of Tasmania he could do better and he could get a better job. What a disgrace! What an absolute disgrace! What I want to know is: what is Mr Turnbull's measurement— (Time expired)