Senate debates

Monday, 3 December 2018

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

Morrison Government, Federal Election

3:37 pm

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

What happened to Senator Singh—a good senator from Tasmania—in a preselection? Ah, they dumped her three years ago! They put her down the ticket and she was good enough to get up on her own, wasn't she, Senator Urquhart? Where is she this time? Down off the ticket again!

The hypocrisy of this place is amazing to me at times. Senator Cameron was talking about cuts to regional Australia. That is absolute rubbish! How many mobile phone towers did you build in the bush in your six years? Answer: zero! Not a one. The only thing you cut were live exports of cattle to Indonesia—what a great way to treat your neighbour! And you want to block them again. You want to stop them again. You want to get there with the Greens and the people pushing you in the crossbenches and ban our live exports so other countries will fill that gap. You know how to treat our neighbours: 'We'll cut the supply of meat off! That's the way we'll go. Don't fix the problems, we'll just cut the whole thing down.' We weren't shipping cattle to Indonesia, instead, we were carting them from the top of Western Australia down to Inverell, where I live, to the abattoirs. What a journey on a truck! That's what you did; what a mess! Of course, as far as the friendship-building goes, what a great way to treat your neighbours! As I said, the hypocrisy is amazing in this place.

Then we come to mining and the Adani mine talk today. Who opposed the Adani mine? Mr Shorten and the Labor Party opposed it. That is for sure. Mr Shorten said it's not necessary. I can't believe how the former CFMEU, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, has given money to the Greens in the past. The Greens hate construction, they hate forestry, they hate mining and they hate energy, unless it's renewable. But they donate to the Greens political party and then they donate to Labor, and here is Labor not supporting it. We're building all these new coal-fired power generators around the world. I highlighted a few weeks ago the number being built: 270 power stations are under construction around the world as I speak. We have just 22 in Australia. Are they going to burn the cleaner, more-efficient Australian coal or are they burn second-rate brown coal out of Indonesia, China—you name it—and put more emissions into the atmosphere? This is their answer: shut down all Australia's industry. I can't believe how the CFMEU can support you lot over there, I really can't. You've betrayed them, the people who got behind you! You don't like coal mining, you don't like jobs and you don't like mining at all; you're just begging to the Greens, that's what you're up to.

Of course, with the criticism of us in government: in April you'll see the black print finally on the bottom line of the budget. It's something the people over there promised under the Treasurer named Wayne Maxwell Swan: 'Next year there'll be a surplus,' but we didn't see it. Then it was: 'Next year there'll be a surplus,' and they borrowed $50 billion. At least come this April—not far away—we'll see the black print and the stopping of borrowing, until that lot over there get control. We know where the debt will go: to where Labor has taken it all of my life. State or federal, it's borrow, borrow, borrow and spend, spend, spend. They buy their way into government and mortgage the children's future. You talk about futures for children: don't leave them wallowing in debt, because that's what you've done all your lives! (Time expired)

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