Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Abetz for the question. As we all know, Australia is an island nation. We are bordered by three of the world's oceans. What that means for Australians is that ports are the gateway to our open trading economy. Anything that is done to interfere with our ports and to slow productivity has a direct impact on Australians. Exports, in fact, make up about a quarter of Australia's gross domestic product. As we know, ports also employ hundreds of thousands of Australians right across our great country. As we also know, Australians themselves rely on many imported goods in their everyday lives. In the lead-up to Christmas in particular, when people are out there spending money and businesses are looking to get access to the products that they need, we need to ensure our ports operate both smoothly and efficiently.

What we do know is that there is an ongoing threat of further industrial action at our ports prior to Christmas. For all of those businesses out there who rely on getting their product into the country, this is a great worry. The Morrison government does, of course, continue to be briefed regularly on this threat and on supply chain pressures. The National Coordination Mechanism is meeting weekly with industry players in the lead-up to Christmas.

The one thing we continue to say to the parties involved in this dispute is 'Negotiate in good faith and please resolve your issues.' But, at the same time, the government's position is very, very clear. The Morrison government stands ready to take action, if needed, to protect the Australian economy from serious harm. We will stand up for all of those businesses out there, for all of those Australians out there, and make sure that at this time of year they have access to the goods they need. (Time expired)