Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

It's what Senator Scarr used to call economics 101, basically. He waves the textbook around. Senator Paterson said that the coalition's platform policy doesn't matter. There's a bit of a debate, I know, about whether they were in a rush to get to certainty or whether they wanted to have certainty later on. Senator Paterson said: 'Our position on this is academic. We're in opposition.' For something that's academic, there's a lot of focus. If you followed Senator Canavan and Mr Joyce's proposition, it would make regional Australia weaker and poorer with less investment and fewer good jobs. When they go out there, fighting against renewables developments and transmission lines hundreds of kilometres away from where they live, they are standing in the way of good blue-collar jobs and investment in the manufacturing industry and against the national interest. (Time expired)