Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Normally we do listen in respectful silence, of course, but it is hard to restrain yourself when you're confronted with the truth. It is very, very hard.

As I was saying, if you go to the Port Latta pelletising plant in Braddon, I'll tell you what: they're not looking at this legislation and going, 'Yes, this is excellent for us; it's going to help us keep operating here, in a globally competitive environment where prices are going down overseas, our dollar is making it hard to export and, of course, the prices of doing things here in this country—to manufacture what it is we take out of the ground and value-add to—are going up.' They are now drawing big question marks over their operations, because of government policy. That's in the seat of Braddon. That's a very, very important seat. In the seat of Lyons, you've got this government—in addition to driving up power prices, as it will with this bill—casting uncertainty over a range of industries, including the salmon industry.

Here we are, on the eve of an election, with a government that will stick its head in the sand to deny the claims being made not just by us here in opposition but by employers out there who, of course, want to do well, which in turn means employees do well. They have jobs, they can pay their bills and they get paid more when they are able to compete on the international stage. But we are pricing them out of the market, and that's what industry is saying. They have said it countless times, whether it relates to the Nature Positive Plan—this ridiculous green agenda—to the safeguard mechanism, which is also part of the green agenda this government has adopted, or to the industrial relations changes which were rammed through without much consultation with industry.

Here we are now furthering the green ideology this government has adopted, again demonstrating how out of touch it is with Australian businesses and Australian workers. I don't think there will be many people in regional communities celebrating what this legislation does. You can almost be guaranteed that anything the Australian Greens back is bad for jobs, apart from in the inner city or perhaps in government run offices. So that is always a warning sign, as well as the fact that the government is so happily signing up to this and happily allowing the Greens to run the agenda here today. We've got to remember that it was the Greens who moved a motion to ensure that debate on this legislation concludes today—that they get their bill through—and we tried to ensure that there would be scrutiny applied to these bills. But, of course, all of the shrill cries about what happened over the course of the last couple of days don't matter anymore, particularly when it comes to our little Greens-Labor agenda.

In conclusion, we've just been given another glimpse into what the world will look like if we, unfortunately, wake up the day after the election with a Labor-Greens government. It will be bad for our economy, bad for jobs and, most importantly, as demonstrated by the legislation pushed in here and pushed through the Senate by the Greens, bad for the cost of living. I think Australians need to know that. I'm pleased we had, what, a dozen votes this morning where Labor and the Greens voted together to get their green ideology across the line, because that's exactly what the world is going to look like after they get their hands on the Treasury benches together.