MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr TEHAN (Wannon—Manager of Opposition Business) (15:13): Last night we saw something quite extraordinary. On 7.30, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy declared: … I never quite bought all the hype on green hydrogen … Yet he put $9 billion into green hydrogen! Now imagine if he had bought the hype.
Where would we have ended up? $18 billion? $27 billion?
Who knows where the taxpayers' largesse would have stopped? On the back of him not buying into the hype on green hydrogen, he also said this on 13 April 2023: Today's release of the annual State of Hydrogen report reinforces that Australia has the foundations to become a global leader in green hydrogen. On 23 May 2024, he said: Now some people might think, oh, you know, is green hydrogen real, is it going to happen?
Well, it's already being manufactured right there in Gladstone … I wonder what the member up the back thinks of that. I'm sure we'll hear from him at some stage. On 18 December 2023 the minister said: And if we're going to play our role in decarbonising that is one of the key and essential roles that we can play, developing an Australian green hydrogen industry and exporting it.
On 18 January 2024 he said: Firstly, of course, our Government wants Australia to be a hydrogen superpower, a green hydrogen superpower. The list goes on and on and on. If this is what the minister thought not buying in was, what the hell is he doing?
What is he thinking—or doesn't he think? This is the worry. It's just all green ideology.
It's just pure and utter green ideology. And I say to the minister: have you forgotten your promise to the Australian people for $275 off every power bill? Not only that, have you forgotten your promise to the Australian people that you would support manufacturing jobs?
As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister went to Whyalla, and he's quoted as saying he was going to 'secure all those jobs'. That's what the Prime Minister said. Now, should we add this up as another broken promise?
He didn't fall of a stage. We know that ripper. He didn't insult the Japanese prime minister.
We know that one. The $275 off your power bill wasn't delivered. When it comes to negative gearing, when it comes to capital gains, when it comes to tax on trusts—I think it was more than 50 times.
What happened when it comes to looking after our veterans? Was anything said before the last election about hitting veterans with a $750 million cap? No, there wasn't.
Was anything said to pensioners in Australia that they'd be hit with additional costs for their private health insurance? That affects 1.5 million pensioners. And then there are those steelworkers in Whyalla—over 600 of them.
As the local member said in the first question today, over 600 of them were promised by the Prime Minister that their jobs were safe. He was happy to go to Whyalla, happy to go to Whyalla and stand there with them and say it, yet, once the jobs go, he gets asked a question today in question and he won't even take the question. What a disgrace!
What an utter disgrace. He just flicks it. Six hundred jobs—just flicks it.
I think this is the worst and greatest insult. We have the Minister for Climate Change and Energy spending $150 million on a pre-COP in Fiji and Tuvalu which is all about his so-called presidency—$150 million and no-one's going. As a matter of fact, what I'm hearing is they're all going to Turkiye, and that's really upsetting the minister for climate change.
They're all going to Turkiye and they're not going to his, and that's meant to be really upsetting him. But this is the worst part of it. There is $150 million for that, but what are the workers being offered in Whyalla?
So far, there is $10 million after being promised that their jobs were secure forever, that the steelworks was secure forever. The Prime Minister won't even own the question he was asked today. Seriously, where is such arrogance towards workers when you can have a prime minister who will do that to fellow Australians who have lost their jobs?
Not only have they lost their jobs, but their families will be impacted and their community will be impacted. I do not think the Prime Minister quite understands what happens when you take that amount of jobs out of a community. We saw the minister he flicked to come up, and what was his response?
Mr Birrell: Blame everyone else. Mr TEHAN: Blame everyone else, absolutely. He would not take responsibility.
He had not one solution to offer. He was happy to see those 600 million jobs just disappear before our eyes. This has a real impact.
That Whyalla steelworks produces a type of steel that is unique to our country. It's the type of steel that you use in buildings. It's structural steel.
It's bridges and it's buildings. That steel was used in building this Parliament House. If this Parliament House was built today, guess where we'd have to get the steel from?
Mr Hastie: IKEA. Mr TEHAN: Yes, we'd probably have to get it from IKEA or the equivalent. Seriously, that's how bad things are becoming under this Albanese Labor government.
And you wonder why the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday said that Australians are losing trust in this prime minister. Well, they have sadly lost trust, and there is very good reason they've lost trust—because they know that this prime minister just makes it up. He just gaslights.
He fibs. He won't tell the truth. He'll do everything other than being honest with the Australian people.
Here's a character test for the Prime Minister. I know the local member will front up at Whyalla, because he'll look after his workers. The Prime Minister on Friday should go to Whyalla and face those workers.
That's what he should do. If he's got real character, having been there and promised their jobs would last forever, he should front up and tell them: 'Sorry, I've got a problem with the truth. Sorry, I've got a problem with being direct with people.
Sorry, I've got a problem with looking people in the eye and being upfront with them.' He should go and do that. That would be the right and honourable thing to do. Yet this prime minister just sits here in question time, dismisses a question about 600 workers losing their jobs, about our industrial capability going offshore.
It's like, 'This is all beneath me.' It wasn't beneath him to go to Whyalla and look those workers in the eye, so he should do exactly the same on Friday when he leaves here—go and look them in the eye and apologise.