Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be supporting paragraph (a) of this motion. Labor supports Australian manufacturing and the jobs it creates. Hence we'll be supporting paragraph (b). Labor does not need rogue National policy ideas that the Liberals don't themselves support, like new publicly funded coal-fired power stations. We have our own ideas, like the National Rail Manufacturing Plan. We agree with the Nationals backbench that they and their coalition partners have neglected the manufacturing industry, having presided over the loss of 90,000 jobs in manufacturing since their election in 2013. Australian manufacturers need meaningful support. They don't need an empty stunt by disgruntled Nationals in the Senate, who have had nearly eight years to speak up. This is a plan which was rejected on day one by senior Liberal Party ministers. This motion is simply an embarrassing demonstration of how ineffective the Nationals are within their government. Every time they put up an idea, the Liberals shoot it down. They get shot down day after day, and here's another example.