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

I take your point, Mr Acting Deputy President, with total respect. Moving on from Senator Ludwig's interjection, I would like to ask: why the rush on this policy?

Why does it have to be through before the end of November? We do not see it rushed into other parliaments around the world. We see an emissions trading scheme of some 30 countries in Europe, where they produce 14 per cent of the world's carbon dioxide. About a dollar a head is their cost. But ours is going to come in at about $400 a head—$400 for every man, woman and child in Australia. And that is going to change the planet? No, it is not.

The point I make is that we should not agree to the extension of hours in this chamber, for two reasons. One is the enormous amount of time that the Greens have wasted in this parliament, not only in this current parliament, the 43rd Parliament, but the 42nd Parliament prior to that, through calling ridiculous divisions where, frankly, they should all carry a calculator and do some figures and they might know the real numbers that stay around the chamber when those divisions are called.

Secondly, this is a most important piece of policy with huge ramifications for our nation. Mr Acting Deputy President Marshall, as a member of the Labor Party you would share my concern on manufacturing jobs in Australia. We have seen from BlueScope Steel the announcement of 1,000 jobs to go there plus some 400 contractors. What we are facing now is 105,000 manufacturing jobs lost over the past three years. So why should we rush through another piece of legislation? Why should we extend the hours of this parliament on a policy that is going to cost more jobs in manufacturing? I thought the Labor Party actually cared about jobs, but that has obviously disappeared years ago. Why should we rush through a policy that the Transport Workers Union has referred to as a death tax? That was Tony Sheldon's evidence at our Senate select committee inquiry chaired by the very capable Senator Cormann. That is how the Transport Workers Union described the proposed 6.85c a litre increase in the excise on diesel for truckies.