QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (14:14): We make no apologies for putting Australians first, whether that's by reserving gas for Australians or securing local industry. I read with real concern coverage of the speech of One Nation's candidate for the New South Wales state seat of Cessnock. If we do what Mr Newman proposes—and, usually, if the One Nation crowd suggests it, the Nationals and the Liberals do it—it would mean the immediate closure of the Tomago aluminium facility and it would mean that billions of dollars of rail investment go overseas again.

It's because Mr Newman is just another Liberal. He is a Sydney toff from a harbourside mansion who wants to run in Cessnock. The consequence of delivering what this bilingual toff proposes would be lost jobs, lost investment— (Time expired)