Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Coal has been demonised by our Labor candidate in Flynn. Labor want to shut down a $66 billion coal industry. Recently, Bill Shorten was in Gladstone with his union-bred, union-fed and union-led candidate Zac Beers. Instructions from Bill were, 'Don't take any photographs of with me with coal in the background'—that's true.

Bill Shorten says one thing in Central Queensland and another thing in Sydney. He's really very tricky. If Labor has their way, there'll be no coal, no jobs and no cheap power. They'll stop the production of coal, close mines and stop Adani. They'll not invest in new coal power stations. Gladstone has another 10 years maximum without any upgrades to the current NRG plant and more jobs will be lost. They'll prevent thousands of new jobs and destroy local economies.

The CFMEU can see this happening and have come out in TheAustralian today and criticised the Labor government for taking this action. Bill Shorten, yes, The Australian newspaper has come out with your friends—your No. 1 supporter, the CFMEU—saying they want you to support the coal industry. They have no plans to keep the Australian economy strong. They have no plans to keep Central Queensland's agricultural colleges open in Emerald and Longreach. They want to shut them. Under a Labor government, constituents of Flynn will pay more and our economy will suffer. (Time expired)

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.