Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the upcoming Senate election on 5 April. It has been just over 200 days since Western Australians went to the polls and elected a coalition government. Since the result on 7 September, the Abbott government has been getting on with the job we were elected to do. The Australian public voted in the coalition because they wanted a stable government that would focus on people, not personalities within the party. The result of the last election also sent a clear message that they wanted a government which would do what they said they would do, and not a party which would say one thing before the election and another thing after the election. But despite the result of the last election, the Labor Party continues to mislead voters and should not be trusted when Western Australians cast their vote in the re-run Senate election in nine days' time.

The Labor Party's most recent example of why they cannot be trusted was just last week in The West Australian newspaper. In the 20 March edition, Mr Bullock said that Labor was 'repealing the carbon tax.' So when the Senate voted on the repealing of the carbon tax last Thursday, Western Australians would have expected to hear that the carbon tax had been repealed. Sadly, this was not the case. Instead, the very same day that Labor claimed they were repealing the carbon tax, Labor aligned with the Greens and blocked this repeal in the Senate. It is clear that Labor has not learnt from its mistakes. No matter how much they say they have distanced themselves from the Greens, we know from the events of the last week that a vote for Labor is still a vote for the Greens. We all know about the chaos and dysfunction that Labor and the Greens delivered during the last parliament.

Only by voting for the Liberal Party in the Senate can WA voters be guaranteed. With many fly-in fly-out workers in my electorate of Hasluck, it is important that there is confidence in WA's mining and resource sector. Confidence is important for companies to invest in the sector and for fly-in fly-out workers to be confident about job security. The only party which is committed to a strong and confident mining and resource sector in WA is the Liberal Party. We are committed to reinvigorating the sector by repealing the mining tax, but again, in another sign that the Labor Party is snubbing its nose at what the Australian people wanted at the last election, Labor is standing in the way of the removal of this legislation.

Never has a vote for the Liberal Party been so important than on 5 April. I know from speaking with people in my electorate that they have been struggling to balance their household budgets since the former government introduced the carbon tax, a tax which they said they were not going to do. But since the former government hit the Australian people with this big new tax, the task is for families to balance their weekly budgets, and it has got harder. My electorate of Hasluck has more than 40,000 families, and every day that Labor continues to support the carbon tax they are continuing to inflict pain on families in my electorate and across Australia.

When businesses think of where to put their vote for in the WA Senate election on 5 April, there could not be two more contrasting choices: the party that will encourage economic growth, the party which will support jobs and the party which will cut red tape for businesses is the coalition party. Again, we said we would cut red and green tape before the election, and yesterday we dedicated the entire sitting day to repeal day. In my electorate of Hasluck there are more than 11,000 businesses. When I meet with business owners in my electorate, they tell me how they are weighed down by the burden of that red tape. Yesterday we listened to the coalition government remove over 10,000 pieces and 50,000 pages of legislation and regulation, saving over $700 million in compliance costs.

I will conclude by reminding the people of Western Australia that, when they consider their vote for the Senate election, the only party which will stand up for WA and is continuing to do so is the Liberal Party. It is the Liberal Party which is committed to repealing the mining tax to reinvigorate mining investment. It is the Liberal Party which is committed to repealing the carbon tax to reduce living and business costs, so WA families can save $550 a year on their power bills alone.

Our Senate team of the Senator the Hon. David Johnston, Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash, Linda Reynolds and Slade Brockman will ensure WA has a dedicated team which works hard for Western Australians and represents the values and families of Western Australia.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being 5 o'clock—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it is not 5 o'clock.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The House stands adjourned until 13 May 2014 at 12 pm.

Question agreed to.

House adjourned at 16:59