Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

It is great to see my good friend and valued colleague from Western Australia. The federal member for Brand is here in the chamber with us. If I am not mistaken, I believe he is a proud son of the town of Whyalla. He is nodding—just for the benefit of Hansard. Guess who made the claim that, as a result of Labor's carbon tax, Whyalla would be wiped off the map. Guess who made that claim. It was none other than the state secretary of the Australian Workers Union. That is who made that claim. I remember it well, and it was followed shortly by none other than the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, as reported on the front page of the Australian,saying, 'If one single job is lost as a result of the carbon tax, I will oppose it.' But, of course, that did not last very long.

There are good people in the Labor Party. I am a great believer that there are very good people on all sides of politics. All of us are trying to do the right thing in the national interest. We come at it from different perspectives, but fundamentally we all want to do the right thing. And I believe that there are still people in the Labor Party who care for workers. I believe that there are still people in the Labor Party who care about stronger growth and who care about opportunities for everyone to get ahead. But you had better get rid of that green tinge in the Labor Party, because it is against the national interest for us to continue to have taxes that are based on—