Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Therefore, when it goes to the impact on employment as a result of government policy change and government policy reform, we have already seen two very large fear campaigns in the past, one on native title and the other on Work Choices, which those opposite projected would result in the collapse of the mining industry, a collapse of investment and a collapse in confidence—and, frankly, all of those claims have been proven to be untrue.

The second point I would make is this, in terms of the role of the mining industry in generating employment. I was talking to the Minister for Resources and Energy about this just the other day—in the recession last year, the global recession, can I say to those opposite there are some claims around that in fact the mining industry, on the employment impact, helped see Australia through. Well, of course, the mining industry played a role. I would also draw attention to the fact that they were the first sector in the economy to shed jobs during the global financial crisis—

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