Mr CREAN(5.59 p.m.) —It is true that these are consequential amendments. They are consequential on the government betraying the book publishing industry in this country by abolishing a bounty for them, by being forced to reverse that decision, but to only partially proceed down the reversal route. We are saying that the book bounty should be extended by another six months. This government has just voted against that and there are people who should have voted on this side, like the member for Kingston (Ms Jeanes), who still is not in this chamber, who still will not come in and defend her actions. She still will not come in and tell us why she is prepared to go to the Adelaide Advertiser and complain about the cuts to industry programs but will not come into this chamber and stand up for the people of Kingston.

We also have the member for Bendigo (Mr Reid), who is still in the chair. He can at least claim that he abstained on the last vote because he was protected by the chair.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. N.B. Reid) —Order! You are casting a reflection on the role that I play in the chamber.

Mr CREAN —I withdraw the reflection. I simply make the point that you were missing in action in New York last year when it was time for standing up for the book publishing industry. We would hope that you would actually exercise a vote in favour of the people of Maryborough in your electorate, a quarter of the work force of which town depends on this book bounty. It is an industry that did not exist before Labor introduced the book bounty, an industry where, if you ever wanted to read a book in this country, you opened the first page and found that it was printed in some overseas country.

The fact of the matter is this was an uncompetitive country and it could not get into the game because all the other countries were supporting their book publishing industry. Labor introduced a two-pronged attack: it said, `Invest in the technology and we'll give you tax deductions for it.' As a government they have wiped out the tax deductions despite the fact they went to the last election promising to keep them. Broken promise, bad policy—two bad hits.

But then we also had the book bounty, which we were always being told we had to get rid of. The member for Bendigo made reference to this earlier—that Labor trotted out a plan to get rid of the book bounty itself. It is true that the bureaucrats put that forward, but we opposed it. It did not come and it did not get passed. If it had have been passed, why would we be debating the issue today? So for you to come in and say that we voted down the books bounty back in 1993 is just plain wrong because, if it were true, we would not be debating this issue now.

Let us understand that the only people who put book publishing on the map in this country were Labor: Labor through the books bounty, Labor through industry support. Labor has seen the growth of this industry, an industry which has seen a doubling of exports in the space of time in which it has been in place, an industry which previously saw non-existent jobs growth. There has been 200 per cent export growth over the past 12 years that this plan has been in place under Labor, and it has taken them six months to abolish it, despite the fact they told no-one during the election campaign they would do it.

I would have liked to have seen Deputy Speaker Reid out campaigning in Maryborough saying, `Have we got a plan for you when we get into government. We are going to get rid of the books bounty, which is going to wipe out a quarter of the work force in Maryborough.' That would have been a great campaign! But he did not say that, of course; he said quite the opposite. He said, `We're going to keep it,' and then he comes along and is part of the decision to abolish it. It is a disgrace.

We have the member for Kingston shedding crocodile tears in today's Adelaide Advertiser saying, `Cuts to industry assistance in last year's budget already hurt the state,' but will she be in the House today? She has not attended except to vote, and then she voted the wrong way. She is inconsistent the position she talks about in the press and inconsistent in representing her constituents in this chamber.

The facts of the matter are that Labor is the only party that has been prepared to support the book publishing industry in this country and it is the coalition which has come along as the new vandals—wreck the industry, wreck regions and put them at the mercy of the international marketplace where there is no such thing as a level playing field.