Senator JACINTA COLLINS (Victoria) (17:07): I thank Senator Xenophon for raising the critical issue of the government's duty of care. Senator Birmingham has come back into the chamber, and I listened to Senator Gallacher earlier, and the suggestion is that we can wipe the slate clean now—it is a new order and a new age, or, if you pick up Mr Hockey's comments, the age of entitlement is over. They completely neglect the government's duty of care. Immeasurable irresponsibility has been demonstrated in the way the Australian government has been dealing with industry policy not only in the automotive area but also in food processing. We continue to ask: where is there any consideration of the national interest? Putting aside some of the cheaper rhetoric in Senator Ryan's speech, his contribution highlighted for me the debate that must be going on in the Liberal-Nationals coalition at the moment. Senator Ryan says we should call it a subsidy. I do not care whether you call it co-investment or subsidy; the point is that the government determines in the national interest to invest in activities that support the economy. I understand that in the Liberal Party there are some who think that there should be no government role at all. That debate is occurring in the coalition at the moment. The victims of that debate are starkly evident. As Senator Xenophon just pointed out, the situation while this government tries to sort out what its industry policy should be is diabolical. Let us consider a few of the facts. For every one dollar of government support, Toyota currently spends at least $20 in its Australian manufacturing operations. That will go. Fifty thousand direct Australian jobs in the automotive industry will be lost because of this announcement and, as others have highlighted—Senator Gallacher particularly—200,000 jobs which rely indirectly on the automotive industry will also be lost. The impact on our economy of this government's approach to the automotive industry—and this is without thinking about food processing as well—is diabolical. Senator Xenophon: The road to recession. Senator JACINTA COLLINS: Indeed, they are on the road to recession. The approach to economic management being exhibited is completely irresponsible. We talk about co-investment or, to pick up Senator Ryan's comments, subsidy, because that is what governments around the world do—they compare the benefits of supporting one industry or another with the impact on the economy overall of losing that activity. Jobs, manufacturing, research and development and a skilled labour force all contribute to a vibrant and healthy economy. It is difficult to believe that Australia will be any better off without an automotive industry. I have been in industry policy debates involving coalition colleagues in years gone by, and we have talked about the benefits of maintaining an automotive industry—the importance for skilling and defence, for instance. I have mentioned food processing. We need to contemplate food security issues as well. This government, Mr Hockey and Senator Cormann have failed to offer any cogent explanation for why they are deciding to intervene in one case and not another. The suggestion that it is Coca-Cola Amatil as opposed to Cadbury or a small seafood operator in Tasmania simply does not cut the mustard. This government needs a cogent industry policy. It does not have one at the moment. All we hear is glib rhetoric—let's blame the workers, let's blame the workers' conditions, let's suggest that these workers do not have a right to expect a job that pays somewhere around $50,000 or $60,000 a year, let's suggest that there is something wrong with the workers in these cases, as opposed to addressing the need for a cogent industry policy. We have heard Mr Abbott make incorrect references to enterprise agreements and, as I mentioned before, Mr Hockey has said that the age of entitlement is over. I do not know any Australians who really do think that they are in the age of entitlement but to suggest that workers do not deserve good jobs is rubbish. (Time expired)