Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

WA Labor MPs should be hanging their heads in shame this week. In a week that confirmed just how dependent Australia is on Western Australia's traditional industries, we learnt, in one day, how damaging Labor's policies are proving to be to the state of Western Australia.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Murray Watt, finally mustered the courage to set a date to end live exports. But yesterday he got a taste of what's to come from Western Australian farmers, when the National Farmers Federation chose to walk out on Murray Watt's speech. Labor's decision to end exports by 2028 will cost as many as 3,000 jobs. We will not take it lying down. Generations of farmers have built an important and vital industry for Western Australian regional communities.

On the same day as Murray Watt's unsuccessful speech, we learnt that Santos now intends to cut as many as 200 jobs in Perth. Make no mistake: this is absolutely attributable to Labor's preference for activism over the economy and working lives. Santos cited a delay in approvals—like those faced by their Barossa LNG project, which has faced years of court delays—for these 200 job cuts. Right now, Woodside's multibillion-dollar Scarborough gas project is also tied up in green lawfare. Can we expect a similar decision from Woodside in the months to come?

Tonight, Peter Dutton and the coalition will offer a clear alternative. Instead of job losses, broken farming communities and dwindling investment, Peter Dutton and the coalition will ensure that mining and farming prosper in Western Australia. The answer is not a line of tax credits for comfortable miners; instead, it's about a genuine commitment to a pro-Western Australian mindset, built on the back of cutting lengthy approval times.