John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations (Senator Evans) to a question without notice asked by Senator Adams today relating to comments concerning the 'Convoy of No Confidence'.

I am disgusted about the comments from Minister Albanese, who said that yesterday's and today's convoy was a 'convoy of no consequence'. It is an absolute disgrace. People are out here because they are concerned about the direction of our nation. These are the ordinary Aussie battlers—the truckies, the small business people, the people out there who are doing it tough to make a living. That is why they are here. It gets worse. We had the Greens leader, Senator Bob Brown, saying they are a 'smorgasbord of whingers'. I will make a comparison: at least they behaved themselves in a civil fashion. We cannot say that about Senator Bob Brown. Back in the Franklin River dispute he actually went to jail for 19 days. Some 1,500 people were charged for their misbehaviour. We did not see any of that out here. That is the truth of the matter. Senator Brown was sent to Risdon Prison, I think. I am not familiar with the facility. You might be, Mr Deputy President, as you hail from down that way.

The point is this: the people came here to genuinely express their concern about the direction of our nation. The truckies are concerned and I am sure Senator Sterle would be concerned about the death tax, as it was called by Tony Sheldon, National Secretary of the Transport Workers Union. The evidence he gave to our committee was that this extra almost 7c a litre due on 1 July 2014 is a death tax on the trucking industry. Harder work, longer hours, more stress on the drivers, more stress on the trucks: that is the last thing we want. We want our truckies to get home safely to their families and loved ones. They were out there expressing their concerns over the direction of our country and the proposed diesel tax, come 2014, on the truckies—almost 7c taken off the rebate, that very rebate of 18½c that the coalition got the truckies when it was in government, following the introduction of the GST. We have already lost 3½c under this government and it is now proposing 7c. Our concern is more costs with respect to their livelihood, harder work, longer hours and more stress on the truckies—that is what Mr Sheldon said to our committee.

As I said, I find it a disgrace when you have the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, calling it a 'convoy of no consequence'. It was the Prime Minister who said, 'We'll be transparent; we'll wear out boot leather to tell people about the carbon tax.' Who was out there from the government yesterday? No-one. They were in hiding, under the shelter of these walls and roofs around us. Why did they not go out and talk to the people? Where is the transparency, which the Prime Minister assured us of? She said she would wear out the shoe leather and explain this tax. After a week or so that was the end of the wearing out of shoe leather—and no resoling of the shoes were required.

People are coming to Canberra because they are annoyed, they are frustrated, they are in business and they can see the direction in which our nation is going, and they know that the debt is going up and up and up, to $197 billion as of last Friday. They know who will have to pay for it in future generations. They know about the waste of money. We have been through it all in this place—the pink batts, the school buildings, the Green Loans and so on. People are concerned about the cost of living and the cost of running a business.

Before the 2007 election, Mr Rudd said, 'We in government will put downward pressure on grocery prices and fuel prices.' Everyone knows that it was just political waffle. That is why the people are out here protesting. It is so demeaning, destructive, disgusting and absolutely disgraceful to refer to those genuine, hardworking Aussies in that sort of manner.

This government take the Aussie battlers and treats them with complete contempt. They do not understand. Most government senators in this place have just dropped in by parachuting out of the trade union movement. Now we have the actual Transport Workers Union agreeing with us that this is a death tax. That is why the truckies are down here. They have come from far and wide—from Darwin, Western Australia and Rockhampton. That is a big effort in tough times. A lot more would have been here if they could have afforded the time and the money. Unfortunately, they could not. I condemn what the government and government leaders have said on this matter. (Time expired)