Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. When it came to the Leader of the Opposition priding himself on being a conviction politician and on being an ideologue, we know that he regarded Work Choices as one of the great achievements of the Howard government, which is why he said that he could not rule out any changes to the Fair Work Act going forward. That was the real indication of where the opposition would go when it comes to Work Choices. It may be on the tombstone of the Howard government, but the Abbott opposition is attempting to resurrect it and it was up there front and centre when it came to the last election.

In terms of dealing with the cost of living, you can look at the decisive action that this government has taken in relation to manufacturing jobs, with almost one million jobs in that industry. For example, the $6.2 billion car industry package is a critical thing in my electorate, particularly for those people who work at Ford in the suburb of Norlane because of the cost-of-living issues they face. In 2007, in the dying days of the Howard government, Ford took a decision to close their engine plant, which said everything about the sense of confidence, or rather the lack of it, that they had in the future of manufacturing under the Howard government.

See this speech in context