Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sterle for his continued interest in WA. The National Party and some Liberals are effectively running an anti-investment campaign. They are opposed to investment and opposed to jobs. The Gillard government takes trade very seriously, unlike your position on wheat, unlike your position on foreign investment. It is not a plaything that you should abuse. It is actually something that is relevant and important to your electorates. But, everywhere I look, the opposition is split on policy—except on one. There is one policy you are not split on, and that is the one policy the state Liberal-National parties are already rolling out across Australia. That is cuts: cuts to services to rural and regional Australia, cuts to education in New South Wales and cuts to hospitals and health services in Queensland. No other policy has so much support from the Liberals and Nationals as cuts. So there are some things you can unite on, which is very surprising— (Time expired)