Mr HOCKEY (North Sydney) (15:35): This motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition must be dealt with urgently because there are around one million Australians in the manufacturing industry who are wondering what this government is doing to them. There are more than one million Australians involved in the retail industry and there are more than one million Australians involved in the hospitality industry and they are wondering what the intentions are of this government. There is a downturn in confidence across Australia as each day passes, as people come to understand that the government has no direction. This is best illustrated by the fact that only today the member for Chifley had the courage to stand at the doors and recognise that there is growing concern in the community, and I praise him for being here for this debate. But I note that so many are missing from his side. We may even move that he has speaking rights at the end of this debate because we recognise that he is a man of courage prepared to stand up for the people in his electorate, the people of Rooty Hill. They are the ones that we are left to stand up for day after day, week after week, and that have been totally abandoned by Labor until the member for Chifley stood up for them today. It is a crisis of confidence that means we have to move this motion, because the Prime Minister is so lacking in confidence in her own authority that she has to wheel out Bob Hawke to shore her up. She has to wheel out for her Treasurer John Fahey to shore him up in Queensland. She has to wheel out for her Treasurer Ken Henry. Can you imagine John Howard appointing Ted Evans because he did not trust Peter Costello as Treasurer? Can you imagine that? What an insult to a Treasurer. But it has not happened once; it has now happened twice: appointment of John Fahey, appointment of Ken Henry. We are waiting for Peter Costello to be appointed. How long will that take? Or John Stone will be back to be appointed. Who knows, there could be a range of others. This illustrates the fact that if the government does not have confidence in its own team, how can it expect the Australian people to have confidence in the government? If the government does not have confidence in its own policies, how can it expect the Australian people to believe it at its word? We are rapidly approaching the ides of June—23 June. There will be all sorts of full moons, and he knows what is coming. He is counting the days—21 days, Old China. It is not that long that you have to wait. I would say to him that it is 21 days until the first anniversary of the knifing of Kevin. That was a great— Mr Abbott: Fundamental injustice day! Mr HOCKEY: Fundamental injustice day! It was not 1 July 2001; it was 'the' fundamental injustice day—23 June last year. What I would say is that as that day approaches they all start counting. They focus on their own jobs instead of the jobs of the manufacturers, of the workers. They are focusing on their own promotion; they are focusing on sandbagging their own incompetence rather than focusing on sandbagging the jobs of everyday Australians. We had the Prime Minister in this question time stand before us and say: 'Manufacturing has done it tough. They had the global financial crisis. They had lots of losses. They have got a strong Australian dollar. They have had real challenges with that.' But the solution is not to impose a new tax on them. That is not the solution. This government is so confused about its own economic direction that it believes that if an industry is doing it tough the best thing you can do for that industry is impose a new tax on it. What an illogical process—what an illogical thought process that comes out of a government that is confused and disturbed. There is a government here that has clearly lost its way. It is a government that does not understand its own policy. It is a government that goes so far as to announce a carbon tax without the Treasurer even being present for the announcement. Now, one of the chief salesmen, one of the chief spokesmen for the man who has to design the carbon tax, cannot answer a question in this place. Day after day he is confused and muddled. And that sends a message to the Australian people that this is a government that does not understand where it is going. I say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker: this is a motion that needs to be dealt with because we are now bypassing the Prime Minister who is incompetent, the Treasurer who is incompetent. We want to hear from the member for Corio, the member for Corangamite, the member for Gellibrand, the member for Throsby and the member for Cunningham. We want to hear from the member for Brand, the member for Calwell, the member for Hunter, the member for Lingiari, the member for Wakefield and the member for Bass. We want to hear them speak up for their people. (Time expired)