Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Oh, yes—now he says it—because the Labor Party implemented it. So we actually have the Labor Party now saying, 'Yes, we concede that there is labour-market testing.' We have the Labor Party now saying that they concede that there is labour-market testing. Well, why don't you tell the truth with respect to the claims against the China-Australia FTA? The simple fact is no-one, no foreign worker, can come into this country unless labour-market testing has been put in place under a 457 visa. So wake up to yourselves, Australian Labor Party, because the scare campaign that you have been running is hollow, it is false, and the Leader of the Opposition's claims are nothing more than a fabrication.

This government will continue to stand up for Aussie jobs and, most importantly, for Aussie investment. What we know is that the Labor Party will walk away from Australian workers, just like they walked away from the Adani project—a $20 billion project that will create 10,000 jobs, that will provide electricity to 100 million people. Labor walked away from it because they are more concerned and focused on doing what they can to drive a scare campaign, to keep their Greens colleagues onside, to make sure that they do not jeopardise their opportunity to secure preferences in forthcoming elections. Those are the principal drivers for the Australian Labor Party—not the future for one hundred million Indians, not $20 billion worth of investment, not 10,000 jobs. It is all about the Labor Party and their union mates. The simple fact is that Australians know that an investment like Adani—$20 billion, 10,000 jobs—is an investment that requires leadership and protection, and that is what the coalition government will continue to do, in exactly the same way that we will continue to drive investment into this country because we know that investment into Australia creates jobs. For the same reason, we will support with robust policy the strongest small business package and the lowest company tax rate for more than 30 years, because we believe in a bright future for this country, unlike the Australian Labor Party.

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