Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

What I have not heard about in this debate is the most prominent sufferer—that is, the blue-collar worker. One would have thought Senator Pratt or Senator Cameron would have at least mentioned the phrase ‘blue-collar worker’. We have had the cement industry coming in and saying, ‘We’re going to have to put people off; we won’t be able to proceed with our new projects.’ We have had the beef industry saying it is going to cost $34 extra to process a cow through its abattoirs. We have had the steel industry come in and say, ‘We can’t survive.’ We have had every industry in Australia—with the exception of Origin Energy, who are retailers; all they do is pass the cost on—come forward with three messages: (1) ‘We’re going to have our assets stranded’; (2) ‘It’s going to add costs to us’; and (3) ‘We’re going to have to put off people.’

You would think the Labor Party would be worried about that, but no: ‘Don’t you worry about a thing; we’ll create green jobs.’ I do not know where these green jobs are going to pour out of the sky from, but maybe the representatives of the working class, the Labor Party, are going to say to the Australian blue-collar workers: ‘You’re going to have to compete against the Chinese, so you’re going to have to work six days a week, 12 hours a day, if you want the green jobs.’ With anything we manufacture in Australia, if you can do it better and cheaper in China then that is where the manufacturing goes—unless you want to put on tariffs. These green jobs are a dream. They are not going to happen. Manufacturing will go to the same place where it always goes: to China, because they can do it cheaper. I do not say they do it better, but they can certainly do it cheaper. Where are the representatives coming in and saying: ‘We’ll get you the green jobs, guys; don’t worry about a thing. It’ll be a little unpleasant for you because you might have to live in a dormitory with your wife up the other end with the women, and you’ll have to work 12 hours a day, but we’ll get you the green jobs’? What a nonsense!