Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

They do not pay any. If you looked at the detail you would understand the ridiculousness of the statement. Look at the statements of the CEOs of BlueScope and OneSteel and you will realise that you really are on the wrong side of this argument. All of those opposite are on the wrong side of this argument. They had the opportunity to stick their hand in the air and vote in support of the jobs of steelworkers in this country, but instead they voted against the $300 million steel industry assistance program. They were blind to the needs of workers in my electorate. They put politics and ideology ahead of the needs of steelworkers in my electorate. They will be condemned for that.

We have put in place a number of other initiatives to assist manufacturing jobs in this country. We have put in place important co-investment schemes to ensure that we are assisting companies in the manufacturing industry to transform their businesses to clean energy technologies and to transform their production processes to make them cleaner and more sustainable. One measure that we have put in place over the last six months will make the difference between some of these businesses staying open or not. The anti-dumping measure that we put in place just before Christmas was the fourth in the raft of anti-dumping measures. If you go through the list of what large employers like BlueScope and OneSteel were asking for, each and every one of those measures has been taken up in the anti-dumping measures. We have heard not a word from those opposite on this measure. It is again an example of how those in the government, the Labor Party, have the interests of regions like ours in mind and why these bills should be commended to the House. (Time expired)

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