Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I recall on the members opposite on a number of occasions advising the then opposition not to write their questions based on what was written in their newspapers, and it is obvious that they have forgotten their own advice.

Senator Wong is right, the Australian people did not elect a government to endanger Australian jobs—they got rid of a government that was endangering Australian jobs, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Over the term of the previous government, the manufacturing sector—including car manufacturing—spat out something in the order of 135,000-140,000 jobs. So much for the opposition's record on manufacturing and car manufacturing. In fact, under the government's watch, we saw Mitsubishi close its operations and Ford announced that it was going to close its operations. The former minister, Senator Carr, is not in the chamber to defend his record, which is quite surprising.

Senator Jacinta Collins interjecting—