Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

What could be done is we could have members of the so-called Labor Party stand up for labourers and stand up for workers in this country for a change. Just for a change, that would be a good thing. We here are on the side of those who do want to work in this country, of those who do want to get a job to provide for their families. We are on the side of those industries that create wealth, that create jobs, that pay the taxes and that support public servants of this nation, and our resources sector does that in spades. But if you have a Labor Party that is not willing to say that, not willing to speak about that, not willing to defend these jobs in public, it is weakening our position in this country. It is weakening support for our resources sector. What we need now is to see these job-destroying secret amendments killed off and to get back to the land of common sense about strengthening mining laws in this country while also protecting jobs.