Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I indicate that Labor will be supporting the Trade Support Loans Amendment (Improving Administration) Bill 2019 and make a few comments about the bill itself, I can't let Senator Van's comments about Labor's proposition, in terms of apprenticeships and jobs for blue-collar workers and for working people in regional areas, pass without making this observation: what passes for a government over the other side of the chamber presided over 40,000 jobs being ripped out of the heart of regional Victoria in the auto industry—an announcement that was clapped and cheered by the geniuses opposite, who goaded Holden, Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi to leave the country—leaving the regional and suburban economies of Victoria and South Australia in absolute squalor.

This is an issue that these peanuts will never, ever have to confront. They'll never have to worry about it. Never, ever in their lives will they have to worry about putting food on the table—