Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I do not accept the premise of the question, as per normal from this senator. I suggest he has a look. If he wants to talk about federal and state policies, it is interesting that he glosses over the fact that the employment figures released today actually show an increase in jobs in South Australia but over 20,000 jobs being lost in the state of Queensland, the largest drop that has been seen. In South Australia we have seen a small rise in the most recent monthly figures. If the senator is really concerned about the economic issues in our state, he might want to explain why it is that he is part of a party that wants to take $1 billion away from South Australia, because they want to change how the GST is allocated. He ought to go back to Adelaide and fess up that Mr Abbott wants to take $1 billion from South Australians.

Honourable senators interjecting—