Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I don't think the Prime Minister and Leader of the Labor Party needs a lecture from the Australian Greens about the ACTU. We engage with the other part of our movement—the organised trade union movement—regularly, closely and personally, so I don't think we need any assistance from you in understanding where the trade union movement is coming from or the relationship between the trade union movement and our political party.

In relation to gas taxation, the point I would make is this. The government has put in place a reservation. A reservation is superior policy. It requires producers—

I know you don't actually think the economy matters, but we do. We actually think jobs in Australia matter, revenue for Australia matters and good income for Australians matters. The reservation is superior policy because it requires producers to supply Australia first. It will deliver lower and more stable prices and shield the Australian economy, and it will ensure that important manufacturing jobs in this country can continue to operate and can continue to flourish, given the importance of energy prices to so much of Australian manufacturing. So that is the real world of working people in which we operate, where we understand the importance of ensuring that facilities that require access to domestic gas are supplied. We understand the workers and the families that rely on that policy, and that is what the government has delivered.