Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Palmer United Party has been caught out in a cynical attempt to be all things to all people: promising to slash Tasmania's GST before the federal election, committing to maintain the state of Tasmania's GST just before the Tasmanian election, and then, just days after their humiliating defeat at that election, announcing a policy to rip hundreds of millions of dollars of GST payments out of the Tasmanian economy in a desperate attempt to win a seat at the upcoming Senate election in Western Australia.

It has been very easy over recent times for minor parties such as PUP to sneak under the political radar with little scrutiny of their policies. But, as we saw at the last federal election, senators can be elected with just a handful of votes and then hold the balance of power to this great country. This was the case with the Palmer United Party's election of Jacqui Lambie in Tasmania. With just 6.5 per cent of the vote, or less than half a quota, Ms Lambie was elected to the Senate. Now Ms Lambie is faced with the challenge of standing up for the people of Tasmania or backing her party leader in ripping hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Tasmanian economy. This is nothing short of political payback to the voters of Tasmania who resoundingly rejected PUP at the state election. It is incumbent upon Ms Lambie to immediately reject Mr Palmer's vengeful GST policy and back the Tasmanian people and the Tasmanian economy. We are sick of being used as a political football by the Palmer United Party.

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