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

I thought there had been some other good progress since 18 May, because since that date we have seen some Labor senators and others express a degree of support for the coal industry. Senator Chisholm and my good mate Joel Fitzgibbon in the other place have been saying they might support coal jobs now, given that they nearly lost their jobs six months ago. But now we see that all of that was just talk, because yesterday we saw the Labor Party announce that they will buckle to the activists who are protesting in our streets and declare a climate emergency. Why are they doing this? It's because they want the preferences and the votes of the Greens over the jobs of people in regional areas like Central Queensland. They'll never fight for jobs. They'll never fight for your job. They'll never defend your industries. They will always sell you out just to get a vote.