Yes, it's obscene and wrong. We would ask the government to speed up, with aggression, their negotiations. It's the idea that powerful, slithering suits in Sydney run this country, which of course they do. They can manoeuvre and manipulate. I mean, we're going like a hundred miles an hour in the right direction. Now, suddenly, we're going slow. The government must be the government. You're the government of Australia. You're there to look after the people of Australia. We are talking here about billions, tens of billions or maybe even a hundred billion dollars on the gas. It's not just the gas. It's the downstream industries. I make the point that, when we provided supercheap electricity in Gladstone, it became the third-biggest industrial centre in Australia. It was because we gave them cheap electricity. If you give us cheap gas in Mount Isa, we'll give you back a result similar to what the Australian people got when we moved on the electricity in Gladstone. This place should be about creating wealth for the people and jobs for the people.

Easily the most important person in Australian history was 'Red Ted' Theodore. I didn't say that; Paul Keating said that. I didn't say that; Malcolm Fraser said that. The only thing I'd ever agree with those two people on is 'Red Ted' Theodore. Theodore wrote to Chifley, who he had put in for the prime ministership—he was getting very old at that stage—that it is the job of government to provide meaningful work for their people. Remember, that was in the Depression years, in the early forties. Actually, it was 1940 that the statement was made. That's what it is our job to create.

As a kid, I hated university. I didn't want to become a lawyer. All I wanted was a job. Please, someone, give me a job! In those days, of the great Bjelke-Petersen government, you could ring up on Thursday and start on Monday. I was an unskilled labourer at Mount Isa Mines. I rang up on Thursday and got a start on Tuesday. In terms of today's money, I was on $235,000 a year, paying very minimal tax, and we had free board and accommodation—three meals a day, seven days a week. Now, if you can get a job, I'd say you're looking at maybe four or five months to get a start in the mines. We were putting down a thousand kilometres of rail line every two years. The rail line was being put down into new mines so that they could get their product to the coast. We were making a lot of money out of it. We were a bit naughty—we made a lot of money out of the rail lines!—but no-one was complaining because we were putting up the money to build the railway line to get the coal out.

Every two years, we put down a thousand kilometres of rail, and that went on for 18 straight years. We started in the mines. Of course, the wages were going through the roof. People say, 'Oh, we can't afford to pay these wages.' Well, I say to the businessmen—and I was once a small-business man and my family before me, going way back 150 years in Australia—'More money will be going through your till.' If the people have got more money, they will spend more money. Enlightened businessmen should say, 'Oh, that is good; the cake has been made bigger, and we will profit from that cake.'

In moving a motion on the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026, we applaud the government for already moving in this direction with aggression and expedition. They've been very fast on it. I mean, I spoke to the Prime Minister, and three days later they were moving on it. You can't ask for a better deal than that. Of course, the government realises the importance of what is going on here. Unless we have cheap coal, unless we have cheap gas and unless we have cheap electricity, we are simply not going to have any industry in Australia. If we provide those things at a reasonable rate, then we will have it. I was the minister for mines and energy in Queensland, and I'm very well aware of the fact that we paid extremely high wages in the Gladstone Power Station, but there were hardly any jobs. It was all mechanised, so it didn't cost the people anything to provide extremely generous wages. And, to the shock and horror of a lot of people, I'm a very active member of the CFMEU. We want decent wages and safe conditions for our people, and we are entitled to that. And government should be striving tooth and nail, fang and claw, every minute to open new industries and provide employment for their people. This bill is to do exactly that. I thank my crossbench colleagues for their initiative with this bill and commend it to the House.

I move the resolution circulated in my name:

That the following words be added after paragraph (4):

(6) further calls on the Government to ensure that:

(a) no gas may be exported unless sufficient supply is reserved to meet current and future Australian domestic demand;

(b) Australian consumers have first call on Australian gas resources;

(c) sufficient gas is reserved to guarantee long-term domestic energy security for households, manufacturers, primary producers and regional communities;

(d) domestic wholesale gas prices are capped at a level comparable to those available in Western Australia, adjusted only for reasonable transportation and distribution costs; and

(e) Australia's gas resources are developed and managed primarily for the benefit of Australian households, manufacturers, primary producers and regional communities before the interests of overseas customers".