QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (14:08): This is an accurate description of what the government's policy will achieve. It is. A domestic gas reservation will increase the supply of gas and lower the price of electricity and gas.

Senator Hanson was dead right. I had assumed that Senator Hanson would be voting for that proposition, except I understand— Senator Cash interjecting— Senator AYRES: Well, who knows where she is? I understand from reading the paper today that she's changed her position.

Does anyone have a theory about what might have caused Senator Hanson to change her position? You can't claim to be a battler if you are bankrolled by billionaires. You can't be for a gas reservation and then suddenly against it because your financial backers hate it.

You can't claim to be an Australian patriot for blue-collar workers if you're against Australian manufacturing and you're against a gas reservation that will deliver Australian gas for Australian industry. (Time expired)