Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

That's right! But I want to focus on the positives today, because we've seen this beautiful relationship return. The Labor-Green marriage is back together. They walked down the aisle. They're now a happy couple about to go on their honeymoon just before Christmas. And, in doing so, they're willing to sell out whatever Australians they need to, just like they did 15 years ago.

Ultimately, decisions and deals like this are about the government's priorities. What are their priorities for the Australian people? Clearly, the government's priority right now is to increase the amount of regulation and red tape that businesses face in this country. Their priority is to put above the protection of workers and their jobs the prosecution of green, left goals that many in the Labor Party want to pursue. The green, left wing of the Labor Party are happy. The AWU, right-wing part of the Labor Party are a little bit less happy. The government's priorities are on display on this last day before Christmas.

Our priorities on this side were always to stand up for the jobs of the hardworking men and women in this country who don't get the time to go on marchers and protests or spend their whole lives on social media, making comments and demanding more legislation and laws. They're too busy right now trying to balance their budgets and too tired at the end of their day after working in the sun, getting dirty and hot, to be the activists that the Labor Party seems so close to now. Those people are just forgotten about. They're totally ignored and forgotten about by this Labor-Green cabal. But, like many instances following a conjugation of a Labor-Green relationship, eventually those people—those workers—wake up. They find out the deals that have been done behind their backs, that their jobs are now at risk and that sometimes they get the pink slip and no longer have a job. When that happens, there will be a backlash. Those people will have more time then to be on social media, and they will find out that, despite the Labor Party having Labor in their name—like the minister says, it's in the name—they don't represent workers, people who have to labour for their livelihood. They don't represent them at all. They're just like the democratic republic of Korea. They're not a democracy. They're not a labour party. They're now a greens party using the costume of a once-proud workers' party to try and defraud the working people of the Australian population that, somehow, they're on their side. They're not.

This week and today just underline that with a big red pen. They are willing to do a deal with the very people that want to sign the death warrant on the forestry industry. Make no mistake about it. The Greens political party want to end the native forestry industry. It is a stated goal of them, and the Labor Party are dealing with them and signing up with them. Ultimately, you can judge somebody by the company they keep, and the Labor Party are keeping company with people who want to shut down industry and put thousands of Australians out of work. That's why we're fighting. I'm always proud to stand up and fight for the workers of this nation. I'm proud that we won't be supporting this rubbish. One day we'll fight to make sure we have this corrected and that we once again protect the vibrant, sustainable Australian forestry industry.