Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The dynamic duo of duplicity descended on downtown Launceston a few weeks ago. The member for Gorton and the member for Jagajaga came with a big bag of scary spiders and fake skeletons but very few facts to share with my community. The member for Jagajaga had the audacity to say that concessions for pensioners were going to be cut. Yet the Premier of Tasmania has made it quite clear that the Commonwealth contribution to these concessions was quite small and that there would be no change to concessions. The member for Gorton had the audacity to stand up and talk about the high youth unemployment rate in Tasmania. Can you imagine that, Deputy Speaker Scott? He said nothing about the fact that the unemployment rate in Tasmania rose to the highest in the country under 16 years of Labor and Labor-Green government in Hobart and six years of Labor and Labor-Green government here in Canberra.

All of these scare merchants that we see parading themselves today and in my home town of Launceston are all scare and no solution. On every occasion, they fail to mention the damaging economic legacy that Labor left behind for this country. The scare merchants that I mentioned came to Launceston are at the heart of Labor-Green decision making over the last six years. They are the reason we borrow $1 billion every month just to pay the interest on the debt that Labor created. Rather than engage in these pathetic scare campaigns they should get on with letting us fix— (Time expired)

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